I back up some of my stuff online with my ISP. With most email accounts, you get 5-10 MB of space to post a web page. You can just as easily use an FTP program (like WS_FTP) to upload zipped, password-protected files, or encrypted files to this space. That way, in an emergency, I can access these files from any web-connected PC in the world.

Just curious - what application do you use for your mirroring? I have a little network of 3 PCs in my home office and I;ve been wanting to do this for backup purposes.

I also make copies of pay slips (at least the first and last of every company I worked for, and the last of each year) ; could be usefull for claiming pension rights.

Or for IRS ....

It may not have a real legal value, but it's at least a good point to start when trying to retrieve that kind of info, if the original papers burned with the house ....
It's far more easy to get copies of original documents, if you at least have references/dates/aso.... to start the search.


alain

It is likely to be helpful. The law is growing increasingly comfortable with electronic backups. Just how helpful will depend on the circumstances in your situation and the applicaable law in your particular jurisdiction. To maximize the usefulness of your documentation you would want to consult a lawyer in your state to help in designing your backup system.

Good luck,

John

For good long term storage stay away from pdf also. Is is based on postscript but is an adobe propritary technology so if Adobe decided to change it your stuck. Also don't rely on the password of a pdf or word doc to keep people from opening it, thats all the furthur I will elaborate on that. Also jpg's are a lossy compression. Even though the file size is bigger tif is a non lossy format (non compressed). If you want to compress then compress with zip, gzip, whatever afterward. Interesting point of trivia, tif format is how fax machines store data internally. Since my career/hobby/life revolves around computers my laptop if a big part of my preparations. My most recent purchase was a 3 lb laptop so I can take it with me easier. When I undress for bed and unload all my gear from my belt and pocket it ges on top of the laptop bag (which is designed to fold open and allow the laptop to be used without being removed from it) so everything is in one place ready to go.

Do you believe that TIF images would be more suitable for this application than JPG?

Also, with regards to PDF, I would suggest a strategy of using both, text and PDF, if time and space allow. Yes, PDF is not an open standard and runs the risk of changing over time. But it has been one of the more stable proprietary file formats in the industry and it does offer so real benifits for archiving. Two features in particular, one is that it retains the original source tool format, which can make understanding of the content easier. Two, it can be indexed using the Catalog feature. You can index the entire contents of the CD and be able to retreive a required document in seconds. Again, I would also archive the same content as text as a failsafe.

Proprietary format for you data is only a problem if you don't have the viewer. If you make a habit of getting a viewer application on the disk along with the data you are probably GTG. Yes there could be a problem finding an older OS version that is capable of runnig your viewer app. You could go with something like a minimal linux like Knoppix and burning a boot image on along with appropriate viewers. Takes up some of your data space but not all of it and then you have a bootable CD with viewer apps for all stored data and all you need is a x86 pc that can boot from the CD. Makes the backup process a bit heavier but it can be scripted to lay down the knoppix + viewers on each CD that is submitted for use as a backup media. Not too hard with a linux based environment. In a windows environment where your backup is some proprietary software instead of the simple shell script then this sort of approach might be a bit more difficult. Never seen a "minimal" win2K bootable CD with any room left over for data.

>>Never seen a "minimal" win2K bootable CD with any room left over for data. <<<

Not much left on a hard drive either! <img src="images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

And to think - Used to be able to get DOS running from a floppy. BTW doesn't DOS == Denial Of Service?

In another life, I used to work for Wang Labs, a company from your neck of the woods that owned the word processor market. I can still remember seeing my first 10MB disk drive for a PC. Prior to that a 10MD was a footlocker sized unit from CDC. Or my first 1MB memory card for the Wang VS system. It was a 24"x24" circuit card filled with rows and rows of chips. <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I still even remember seeing an old memory card for one of their early programable typewriters (an IBM Selectric hooked up to a CPU). It was a maze of thin copper wires that threaded through tiny iron ferrite rings, which I understood to be Dr. Wang's own invention when he was employed by IBM (Hence his seed money to start his own business). Ahhh.. The good ol' days. <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />