Documents for your Flash Drive(s)

Posted by: bws48

Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/09/07 01:22 PM

Hello everyone,

First, a brief introduction. I presently live and work in Anne Arundel county, Maryland, but have lived and worked in various places in the U.S. and Europe, and traveled to many others. As you can see, I’m a “stranger” and have made just a few posts. I’m still working my way through past threads and learning the ropes.

This is my first attempt at opening a thread.

I have noticed a frequent recommendation to keep a flash drive with “important papers” and information on it. The few comments I have read don’t really cover what those “important papers” might be in any detail. So based on some harsh lessons, I thought I would try to put together a list for your consideration and thoughts. As pointed out in some earlier posts, an electronic copy may not be accepted as “official,” but it is better than nothing and can help show where to find the “real” copy (e.g. what county clerk’s office, etc.) is. I think most items on the list will be self-explanatory, but I’ll include a brief comment where I think it is helpful. I expect everyone realizes that you will need this for all family members and should have several flash drives in several places. Not all of these may be required, but at one time or another I have found the need to produce almost every one of them for myself or a family member.

Identification:

Drivers License
Social Security Number
Birth Certificate
Passport
Travel visa if you need it to be where you are.
Permanent residency documents if necessary.
Naturalization Certificate—yes, if you have a U.S. passport it means you are a U.S. citizen. However, there are agencies of the U.S. Government that will not accept a U.S. passport as evidence of citizenship, e.g. Social Security. The naturalization document itself says “do not copy,” but these agencies require you to produce it and then they copy it. The copy on your drive (probably) will not satisfy them, but it does record the information as to when, where, what Court etc. citizenship was granted so that you or they can go back and get an “official” copy or verify naturalization if the original is unavailable.

Financial:

Bank account numbers (including bank routing number) and bank toll free and your bank branch numbers.
Credit card numbers including the 3 digit security code on the back, and the toll free numbers to call them. (I dump the cards on the copier and copy front and back).

General Legal Documents:

Marriage Certificate
Divorce Decree
Wills
Trust documents
Adoption decrees
Power(s) of attorney
Deeds to real property
Title documents for vehicles
Vehicle registration

Medical:

List of medical conditions and allergies
Special medical precautions required by medical personnel in treating the family member.
List of medications by brand name, generic name, and if possible, scientific name, dosage and schedule. (If abroad, the local physician/apothecary may not recognize a U.S. brand name or generic name.)
Three to four years of those laboratory reports your Doctor gets from blood and other bodily fluid tests.
Unfortunate personal experience on this one. After moving here, a routine test showed something “too high.” Turns out, the actual number on the test was less important than the year to year change. Guess who didn’t have copies of those old reports? Guess whose former Doctor’s office took a small portion of infinity to find and produce the old records? Everything turned out ok, but now we always ask for and get a copy of the lab results for ourselves and file them.

General Medical records from your Doctor (notes, etc.)
Advance directives for medical care.
Durable power of attorney for medical care.

Sorry if this list is too long, I kept thinking of things. I hope it proves useful.

---Bruce, aka bws48

Posted by: Westwindmike

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/09/07 01:27 PM

Bruce,
The main thing I would worry about, is if the flash drive got lost or stolen, somebody could really ruin your life with all that information. Is there an easy way to encrypt the info on the drive so that it couldn't be read by just anyone who "found" it?
Thanks,
Posted by: flinx

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/09/07 01:40 PM

Truecrypt or GNUPG would satisfy the security requirement for this information. Both programs are opensource. They run on all platforms and have been subject to peer review.

V/R

Flinx
Posted by: bws48

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/09/07 01:50 PM

westwindmike has a valid point, and some of the more critical documents/folders should be encrypted. But some, like medical info, you may want to leave in the open, in case you are not conscious to give the appropriate passwords etc.
Like your credit cards/social security number, the physical security of the flash drive at all time is something to be aware of....
There is always a trade off. I used to work in a place where we used to say "we are so secure, we can't get anything done."
Posted by: JCWohlschlag

Flash Drive Integrity - 09/09/07 04:22 PM

Another important consideration is the structural integrity of the flash drive itself. I recently got a hard lesson about this as I discovered, after getting settled into my new residence in Pennsylvania, that my USB flash drive didn’t work any more. After taking it apart (and seeing that there’s no way in hell I could put it back together), I found a (power, I believe) wire broken off its connection to the mainboard.

So, I said goodbye to that flash drive. Fortunately, all of the data was a backup to data I store on my desktop and my laptop (and a backup DVD-R that’s in a box somewhere…), so I didn’t lose any data of any sort. I only lost my ability to pop that data into any ol’ computer I want and use my stuff.

Considering this recent disappointment, I have been looking into more robust flash drives as a replacement. I learned earlier on this board about the Corsair Flash Survivor/Survivor GT, which not only appears strong enough to survive every day carry, it seems just about bomb proof. There are other drive models available from Corsair, Sandisk, Lexar, etc., but this one seems to take the cake as it can withstand harsh outdoor environments and has absolutely no internal moving parts that could break.
Posted by: JCWohlschlag

Flash Drive Encryption - 09/09/07 04:34 PM

I have been using TrueCrypt (freeware) and RoboForm (not freeware, but worth it… there are freeware alternatives) on my PCs and flash drives for quite a while. They both perform very well, and they compliment each other’s capabilities very well.

Whether to encrypt what data is a choice that is up to you, but I do know that many hospitals do not go rummaging through your flash drive in a medical emergency because 1) their IT policy is not to plug in unknown data sources to their network, 2) they do not have the time, and/or 3) they don’t know what they’re doing with a computer. (As a former IT support provider for hospitals and medical records, #3 is the case far more than I am comfortable with seeing as how these people are responsible for my health in many ways.)

For medical information availability, it may be much more prudent to carry a dedicated method such as a medical ID tag, card, or something of that sort. There are companies such as MedicAlert that can provide full information, including past medical records, to hospital staff when they need it without you having to be conscious. The benefits and comparisons of these dedicated methods are beyond the scope of this thread, however.
Posted by: MartinFocazio

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/09/07 09:22 PM

Let me chime in on this subject, and as a geek with a lot of love of technology, I'll suggest that a flash drive is NOT the first choice I'd make. I'd go with a CD or DVD ROM, or a small USB magnetic drive.

Also, as I've said before, until there's such a thing as a notarized computer storage device, you're not saving much time.

Finally, the whole "medical history on a key drive" fantasy, as pointed out, is just never going to happen in real life. I'm in "pre-pre-hospital care" (I stop the bleeding, try to keep you breathing and cut you out of the car wreck, I don't do IV's or anything like that. In all the times I've been to a trauma situation I've never - no not once, never, no never ever ever - seen an ambulance crew that even COULD plug in a keychain drive to anything (only the cops have computers and the USB ports on them are shut down except for registered devices). We look for medic-alert bracelets and tattoos, and that's it. Electronic data storage is too fragile, the formats to inconsistent and the security of that data totally impossible to maintain in today's world, and, I suspect it always will be.

Yes, we have a lot of cool technology, but the reality in medical situations is quite different from what you experience in an office.

Here's an example. When I broke my wrist last year, I needed to have the X-Rays from the ER for the osteopath. The ER was 100% digital, my X-Rays were never on film. But when it came time to see the Osteopath, who was affiliated with the hospital where I went to the ER, they had to make a print, and I had to pick up the print and bring it with me.

I even offered them my 2GB keychain drive at the ER and said "Just put the file on here" and they looked at me like I had offered them Anthrax Cola.
Posted by: Dali

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/10/07 02:08 AM

For the truly security conscience take a look at the IronKey USB drive....hardware military-grade encryption, tamperproof, self-erase after 10 bad password attempts, waterproof, etc. If you pick a good password / passphrase your data should be very secure.

They offer a way to backup all data using the same encryption so you can securely backup data on the device / media of your choice and later restore it to a new device if needed. (They also offer password/passphrase escrow - if you lose or forget your password your data cannot be recovered.)

It doesn't require special drivers or installation of any type. When you insert it, a ROM-based application to unlock the drive runs. Enter your password, the drive unlocks and you have access to the data as well as a few applications. For example, a version of Firefox that surfs the web using special Tor servers that Ironkey provides is built-in. All the applications run without having to be installed similar to the portable app suite.

http://www.ironkey.com
Posted by: Frankie

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 09:54 AM

You could add to your flash drive your personal emergency contact information: the addresses, telephone numbers and emails of all family members and relatives (the emails can sometimes get through when phone can't during a disaster) including if possible an out of state relative. Also include all area hospital addresses and phone numbers, the poison control center and police departements.

Frankie
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/10/07 11:10 AM

Originally Posted By: Dali
For the truly security conscience take a look at the IronKey USB drive....hardware military-grade encryption, tamperproof, self-erase after 10 bad password attempts, waterproof, etc. If you pick a good password / passphrase your data should be very secure.


A couple of things that send up warning flags for me regarding this product:

1) Claim of "military grade encryption"
There is no such thing as military grade encryption

2) No source code for per review.
Any encyption software developer with any credibility will release the encryption routines for peer review. Nothing on the website about this.

3)"FIPS 140-2 compliant"
Huge difference between being FIPS 140-2 compliant and being FIPS 140-2 validated...

4) Self destruct after 10 tries...Cannot understand why this would be needed. If the software is suppossedly that secure, why would it need to self destruct after a measly 10 password attempts, it should never need to self-destruct.

Before buying any encryption product, people who should really read the snake oil faq. It is dated but still explains the fallacy of many encryption claims and marketing hype.
Posted by: falcon5000

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 01:59 PM

bws48, I thought I'd throw my 2 bit's in. The average joe using typical brute force software can crack many encryptions using L0pht Crack software and others. With that in mine, what you can do is use a program like Masker 7.0 ( http://www.softpuls.com/masker/ ) which will encrypt and hide your data.

How it works is save all your information to a word document, get a picture of anything (you standing with your dog) or mp3 or video etc.. and you open it up with Masker and insert your word document in there and encrypt it with 256 blowfish. What this does is if someone does steal your thumb drive and you have it full of pictures or mp3's etc.. They would have to know the exact picture or mp3 or whatever to try to break it plus they would need the program as well and break the encryption. The file you save it in will work as normal,plays music or what have you and the properties shows virtually no signs of it being tampered with except a slight increase in file size.

They have a free download to try it and see if you like it, it has a lot of potential and you can put the program on the jump drive or while traveling download the trial for field extractions.

http://www.softpuls.com/masker/


Example: Where is your information? Where's it hidden in ,it could be in the ship_logo.gif or the logoff.asp or any of these files and all the files function perfectly with no signs of tampering.


Posted by: Paul810

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 03:00 PM

Another thing to keep on your flash drive is a description and list of serial numbers to expensive devices/things you own. Computers, Ipod, televisions, collectors items, ect. It comes in handy if you ever get robbed or if your dwelling burns down.

First, it helps you figure out what is missing or destroyed. Second, it makes it easier to make up a list you can give to the police to help get your stuff back, and/or to your insurance company to maybe get some kind of reimbursement. If you really want to go nuts you could even scan copies of receipts on there along with the descriptions and S/N.
Posted by: GoatMan

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 04:20 PM

TrueCrypt accomplishes the same thing of encrypting and hiding your data. There is no need to use a second application. If you think about it, there isn't sufficient need to hide the data on your flash drive. Feel free, but it is over kill in my opinion.

My theory: Have an encrypted set of data on your person via USB drive, memory card such as SD card, CD, MiniCD, or DVD. Have a second copy of your encrypted set of data at a remote location like a family members house, again in your preferred format. Have a third copy of your encrypted set of data, this time using stenography to hide the data in another file, stored in an email account or two. You then have several copies available to you in case of a need.

Your personal copy could be on a USB drive drive you use or on a microSD card that you keep in your phone and also listen to MP3s on. Always with you and out of sight/out of mind. As long as you use good encryption, you don't have any concerns about your data.

I also 2nd the recommendations to include information on emergency contacts and home/personal inventory with this data.

Posted by: JCWohlschlag

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 07:42 PM

Originally Posted By: GoatMan
TrueCrypt accomplishes the same thing of encrypting and hiding your data. There is no need to use a second application. If you think about it, there isn't sufficient need to hide the data on your flash drive. Feel free, but it is over kill in my opinion.

And if you really do need to “hide your data”, TrueCrypt provides methods of plausible deniability, including naming the encrypted file whatever you please and the use of a hidden volume inside another encrypted volume.
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/10/07 10:00 PM

Originally Posted By: falcon5000
bws48, I thought I'd throw my 2 bit's in. The average joe using typical brute force software can crack many encryptions using L0pht Crack software and others. With that in mine, what you can do is use a program like Masker 7.0 ( http://www.softpuls.com/masker/ ) which will encrypt and hide your data.

They have a free download to try it and see if you like it, it has a lot of potential and you can put the program on the jump drive or while traveling download the trial for field extractions.



I tried this program and it leaves a lot to be desired. The in-security of it is almost laughable and I would never trust my data with it. This screen-shot shows how it leaves orphaned files on your computer (your files that you wanted encrypted and safe in the first place.)



This took less then 5 minutes to figure out...I have intentionally removed the file location information and emailed the contact on the website..

Please, if you are going to encrypt your data, use a reputable program such as PGP or Truecrypt. Your data and your security will be in much better hands....
Posted by: OldBaldGuy

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/11/07 01:53 AM

About a year ago this topic was floating around here, and I had to go to a hospital for a blood draw. On a whim I asked several folks sitting at various desks if they would allow me to stick one of those gizmos into their comuter to bring up my medical history, etc. Every one of them say NO WAY. They are worried about virus' from the flash drive eating their computer. So, I have decided that if you want to save your info on a gizmo, plan on having your own computer handy to retrieve the data...
Posted by: falcon5000

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 02:05 AM

Sherpadog, I'm a little slow sometimes when following things and I still am using Masker 5.0 which is the older version. But when you hid a program in the carrier file and shredded the old program (which is now hidden in the carrier file) did it still leave orphaned files on your computer. The only file that I could find was a temp file that the contents were shredded after you closed the carrier back.

I guess what I'm asking is can you walk me through what you did, because the only trace I saw was a temp file with 0 bites and everything shredded.

Also the program Truecrypt, will it allow you to store files in a working application, picture or what have you. I went to the site but I did not find any mention of this.
Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 10:52 AM

Although personally I don't care for this program. However, as computer security minded professional, reporting a detailed security defect and exploit on any product in an open forum such is this, is not good practice. It is not fair for the developers and more importantly it is not fair for the people who have brought such products. The normal practice is to notify the developer of the issue and give them time to fix the issue. If they do not respond and fix the issue in a timely manner (uusally 30 days) then other avenues can be taken such as reporting it to specialized companies such as Securnia

To answer your second question. Truecrypt does not hide data inside of applications, pictures, mp3's etc. In my opinion, this is overkill and for the un-informed. Also there are programs out there that can scan for abnormalities in different file formats such as this.

People are better off leaving all the smoke and mirrors behind and simply using a known and reputable encryption program.

Posted by: RayW

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 12:07 PM

On a related question what file format would be the most universal for storing information? What format would be durable, as in still used 5 years from now, and be read by a majority of computers in use. Or does this exist?
Posted by: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 12:34 PM


I would use Adobe PDFs .pdf with plain text .txt version copies and any photos, pictures contained within the pdf's being simple .bmp

This should cover most OS's past present and future.

Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 12:59 PM

Plain text, rich text format (RTF) and Adobe pdf files.

Do not count on Microsoft Word....they have enough compatability issues between their own recent versions, let alone 5 years from now.
Posted by: GarlyDog

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 01:04 PM

Originally Posted By: RayW
On a related question what file format would be the most universal for storing information? What format would be durable, as in still used 5 years from now, and be read by a majority of computers in use. Or does this exist?


.txt or .html would be my recommendation for documents.

If you store docs using pdf format, I would recommend storing the adobe reader install program too.
Posted by: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 01:18 PM

Quote:
but it is over kill in my opinion


In the world of encryption I'm affraid there is no such thing as over kill.

Some other encryption tips to ensure success.

Firstly the OS. Forget about using a Microsoft OS to do your encryption. Use a Linux OS as this is open source.

Do your encryption on someones elses PC (best approach after pulling out the network/modem cable so it becomes a stand alone machine). To do this boot of a USB memory card with something like Ubuntu.

Do your encryption with something like PGP or Truecrypt. Do not use a public key but a private one. The best keys are generated are those ones generated randomly. This can be done by using a MBX3S connected to your PC and by using the data generated by the MBX3S and then converting the randomness of the data to generate the key into a plain text file . Use a long key i.e thousands of bits in length.

Hide your encrypted files in plain sight. XOR the lsb's of a .WAV file then re-encode into a apple .mp4 lossless audio file

Send your plain sight files using someone else's network. i.e. using someone else's unsecured wireless network.

Destroy the original unencrypted files by reformatting the USB memory card and then re-installing the Linux distribution on to the USB memory card. Hide your USB card in the heel of your shoe.


Posted by: falcon5000

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 01:36 PM

Sherpadog, fair enough with the detail question, I wasn't sure if you were looking at the temp file it stores while opening the carrier and then destroys it or something I missed. Anyhow, thanks for giving me a heads up, the Truecrypt may be the way to go but I would end up storing the file with the masker program for extra security because I do believe that hiding the file is definitely a help in securing your information. I guess I've never ran into problems with Masker because the information was hidden in a Jpg or mp3 or what have you a you need to know the exact file in order to use the program to extract it. Even with the program, if you don't know what file it is, it won't tell you if it's encrypted or not. So if Truecrypt allows you to store a file, you should be able to take that file and store it in a carrier file.

I don't like hiding them into MP3's because everybody loves to steal music, I can just see everybody passing all your info around listening it in cars,etc...
Posted by: GoatMan

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/11/07 05:17 PM

Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
Hide your USB card in the heel of your shoe.


I'm surprised that someone being this "careful" posts on a forum at all. You'd think they'd be concerned about their MAC address being recorded, even by the anonymous proxy server.

You also just gave everyone on the forum, and probably several other forums for that matter, part of your "secret combination" of protecting your personal data.

Just looking at the broader picture if you are THAT concerned about security...
Posted by: Paul810

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/12/07 02:47 AM

Originally Posted By: GoatMan
Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor
Hide your USB card in the heel of your shoe.


I'm surprised that someone being this "careful" posts on a forum at all. You'd think they'd be concerned about their MAC address being recorded, even by the anonymous proxy server.

You also just gave everyone on the forum, and probably several other forums for that matter, part of your "secret combination" of protecting your personal data.

Just looking at the broader picture if you are THAT concerned about security...


When I saw a guy get robbed in Newark the first the they took was his wallet. The second thing, his shoes.

Makes you think twice about hiding anything of value in your shoes......
Posted by: Ors

Re: Documents for your Flash Drive(s) - 09/12/07 10:13 PM

I don't think the point of having medical info on the flash drive is in case you are unconscious. It seems to me it's more logical to have information about surgeries you've had, hospitals stays for other reasons, major illnesses, when your last tetanus booster was. Not that a hospital would accept that as an official record, but as a way to keep track of your medical history to help them have a better idea of your past heath issues.

I don't have information like that on my flash drives yet. Most of what I have on there is non critical from a security standpoint, but I keep it encrypted anyway, because it's nobody else's business.
Posted by: Dali

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/13/07 01:10 AM

This stuff is really interesting!

The Ironkey device and others like it (Kingston) represent some of the first _inexpensive_ commercially available products with built-in hardware encryption. We are also starting to see hard drives with similar technology. On the fly encryption/decryption.

1. I don't think the Ironkey people claim "military grade"...this is from other "review" websites. Probably just trying to imply "strong" (whatever that means). I believe they've implemented AES-128 or AES-256.

2. The device is new. I don't know for a fact that they've submitted it for an independent validation but, as you point out, this is important. One website says they are in the "NIST implementation under test" phase for FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certification.

3. See #2.

4. Ironkey adds a physical security dimension that most software-only implementations don't have.

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the usual assumption that encrypted communications / files are fully exposed to a third party - so the emphasis is always on "unbreakable" - or at least sufficiently difficult to break - encryption. The self-destruct/tamperproof design is clearly an attempt to prevent data exposure in the first place.

Posted by: Anonymous

Re: Flash Drive Encryption - 09/13/07 01:48 AM

Originally Posted By: Dali
This stuff is really interesting!

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it the usual assumption that encrypted communications / files are fully exposed to a third party - so the emphasis is always on "unbreakable" - or at least sufficiently difficult to break - encryption. The self-destruct/tamperproof design is clearly an attempt to prevent data exposure in the first place.


After reading the whitepaper on this product, I would be worried about the 10 password limit. This limit cannot be changed nor can the counter be reset.

I can just see someone mistakenly leaving the USB drive in a pc. A curious co-worker, your kids or an inqusitive wife sees the drive and data, tries entering in a few passwords and after a grand total of 10 passwords, bye, bye goes your data.

Hopefully you have safe backups somewhere else. However from years of professional experience, I can tell you that 98% of people do not have any kind of backups on any media type...

Just to add to this, I would not loose any sleep if my own PGP and Truecrypt files were to be obtained by someone else. I have enough confidance in these products, and my passphrases that no person can brute force the password. For those who are truly paranoid and worry about the "government" getting their personal data...they already have it.
Posted by: JCWohlschlag

Include your Résumé - 09/17/07 11:53 PM

Just thought I’d add another one to the list…

Include your résumé, preferably a full résumé with all your work history on it (not one suited to a particular job opening or field). Include all starting and ending dates, starting and ending salaries, and reasons for leaving (or positive substitutes for those reasons for leaving). Most résumés do not include all that information, but job applications ask for them, so you should have it stored somewhere.

Additionally, services like Monster.com and Yahoo! HotJobs let you store résumés online, which may replace or supplement the advice above.

Keep in mind, disasters like company downsizing and layoffs are just as devastating, sometimes more, than earthquakes, tornadoes, etc.
Posted by: Glock-A-Roo

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/18/07 03:26 PM

Why are Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf) considered good for longterm archiving, in terms of future compatibility? Aren't they just another proprietary file format?

BTW the freeware converter PrimoPDF has worked well for me to make PDFs from any other type of file. I'm sure there are other programs out there as well.
Posted by: JCWohlschlag

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/18/07 05:25 PM

Originally Posted By: Glock-A-Roo
Why are Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf) considered good for longterm archiving, in terms of future compatibility? Aren't they just another proprietary file format?

Yes, Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) was invented by Adobe, but I’d hardly call it “proprietary”. The previous link is Adobe’s description of the format and describes how they are attempting to standardize the format even more.

Basically, PDF is a good format for storing documents because you do not have to depend on the host system (the computer you’re plugging your USB drive into) that much to be able to open and print the document. There are portable applications, such as Sumatra PDF Portable that will allow you to open and print a PDF document without even having Adobe Reader installed on the host PC system. PDF is also advantageous because you can secure your documents any way you need to. (Security features vary with the PDF creation method). However, the main advantage of PDF is a lovely thing called backwards compatibility. PDF viewers years from now will almost certainly still open the older-format PDFs.

The only real disadvantage to PDF documents are that they cannot be modified on the fly. (Maybe Adobe Acrobat can do this. I don’t know. I just installed Acrobat yesterday.) Any documents that get modified frequently may be better to store in their native .doc or whatever format instead.
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/19/07 12:40 AM

I've noticed that pdf's are not the perfect portable format, sometimes not looking the same on one system as they do another and other times not being as backwards compatible as they should be.
Plus you can't easily edit them.
I carry my important files in openoffice format and carry portable openoffice along with them. It has the ability to save to pdf so I can make that final read only copy on pdf format once I've finished editing.
Posted by: thseng

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/19/07 12:38 PM

PDF's are great if you need to preserve the original formatting, etc. or if you have vector graphics such as a mechanical drawing.

However, if its just info like account numbers, phone numbers, etc. then I think that a plain old text file would be be most portable.
Posted by: drahthaar

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/19/07 10:06 PM

Instead of putting that info on a flash drive, why not just create a gmail account and e-mail the documents to it?

If you want other people to have access to some of it, you could just get a little dog tag engraved with the name of the g-mail account and the password and put that on your key ring. Something like "Medical information at xyz@gmail, password 1234"

You could, of course, encrypt your banking records or whatnot if you don't want people to have access to those.

I have a gmail account set up and tied to my PLB and I send updates to that account re my travel plans, etc. so if my PLB is activated rescuers can access that info in my g-mail account.

The only downside I can see is that it would not work where people do not have internet access or if the internet is no longer functioning. But I think chances are pretty good that anyone with a computer with a USB drive can figure out a way to get onto the internet. Heck, even if not, they could just call someone and have them access the internet and read them the medical info.
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/19/07 10:55 PM

You don't want to rely on any more third parties than necessary. Sure you could use gmail as another backup but since its not under your control don't make it your primary method.
Look at what has happened to other free services, yahoo for example turned to crap, msnhotmail lost my mail twice with simply a message saying sorry your mail was lost.
Posted by: drahthaar

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/19/07 11:11 PM

Eugene - I agree in principal, but I have at least as much faith in Google's ability to maintain my data as I do in a flash drive on my keychain.

Just sayin'.
Posted by: Eugene

Re: Include your Résumé - 09/20/07 11:44 AM

Basically what I'm saying is use both, don't rely on one or the other.