Isn’t techonology great? We can store almost anything under the sun on these computers and they’re all just a mouse click away.
But what happens when a power outage, and EMP, a data breach or a major computer failure (like the Cloudstrike meltdown in July 2024) means all of that precious information is unavailable or (worse!) lost forever?
Threats to your data
Your digital data are a fragile thing. In the blink of an eye you could lose everything and depending on what caused the erasure, you may never be able to retrieve it, unless you take steps now to protect it.
- Computer viruses and malware. Some viruses lie dormant for a long time before activating.
- Hard drive failure. While viruses are the first thing we think of as causing a computer disaster, hard drive failure is by far a more common occurrence. A hard drive that is older than four years or older is has a significanly increased risk of failure.
- Software failure.
- Human error. You or your beloved toddler might accidentally delete or modify files.
- Burglary, theft or sabotage.
- Disasters such as fires, floods, tornadoes, lightening strike, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) or power surges and outages all put your data at risk.
Gone, but not lost forever
If you have backed up and protected your data you can quickly recover from an otherwise disasterous loss of important information. Knowing that your data are backed up can give you peace of mind. If something happens to your data, you know you have a backup and can rest assured that you can recover it.
What to store and back up
You should plan to protect any information and important documents that you would cause a panic if you lost them. Add to that any pictures, videos or family letters that are dear to you. Scan paper documents and photos so that you have a digital copy of them.
Here’s a good list of what you’ll want to have in digital format and routinely back up:
Photos and videos: Make digital copies of old photographs and video tapes.
Financial records: This includes tax returns, bank statements, investment records, retirement and savings accounts.
Health information: Keep a brief but concise record of the health history of each family member: any chronic illnesses or disabilities, major illnesses and surgeries and medications that you routinely take. Include contact information for doctors and specialists you routinely visit.
Insurance information: Information on all house, car, medical or life insurance policies you have.
Legal documents: Keep copies of things like birth certificates, driver’s licenses, deed to the house, auto registration, divorce decrees, custody paperwork for children in your care, paperwork for trusts and wills, including a living will or medical directive,
Personal writing: Personal writing such as journals, diaries or other creative work.
Household inventory: Make a video record of any belongings you’ll want insurance to replace if you have property loss. Include receipts or other paperwork to verify the make/model or value of each item to expedite insurance claims.
Backup options
Once you’ve decided what you want to protect, you have a few options. Broadly speaking, your back up options are cloud storage and various forms of physical storage. Each has its pros and cons, so you’ll want to do a little research to decide which is the best option for you.
Cloud backup: For most people, this is the easiest way to keep their data safe.
Protect against an EMP
An EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) is a burst of electromagnetic energy with the potential to disrupt or damage electronic equipment and system.
There are two potential sources of an EMP:
Natural: A coronal mass ejection (a massive solar flare) has the potential to disrupt or even damage our electronic grid.
Man-made: A nuclear weapon detonated at high altitudes could create an EMP that could impact large areas. Depending on where it struck, a man-made EMP could impact a significant portions of the US. The cascading effects of an EMP could devastate the electronic infrastructure of an entire continent.
However…having said all that, you should know that the threat of a man-made EMP is purely theoretical. Although it is a possiblilty, no one has yet attempted it. The likelihood of a solar flare large enough to disrupt electronics is small. One of the largest flares in modern history occured in May 2024 and all it did was give us a great Aurora Borealis show.
So there are those that think an EMP is a non-problem. But many in the prepping community think it is a high probability. They point to the Carrington Event in 1859 that damaged telegraph lines and disrupted transmissions around the world. They say that with today’s technology a similar event would be catastrophic.
If you are concerned about the possibility of an EMP, backing up your data onto an external hard drive and protecting it in a Faraday cage is your best solution.
- Pros: Easily access your information wherever there is internet access. An easy way to store lots of data. Many cloud systems let you schedule automatic backups, which means (in theory) you never have to worry about remembering to back everything up.
- Cons: There is a monthly cost. There are options for free cloud storage bit it is limited. Not accessible during a technology meltdown or power outage. Slow internet speed may make backing up and retrieving data a slow process. Vulnerable to security breaches or hackers. You are relying on a third party, trusting they’ll keep the information safe.
Physical backups include CDs, thumb drives and external drives.
CD’s: One of the first data storage devices created, they are not so commonly used nowdays. However, there are still a couple good reasons you may want to use them for storing data.
- Pros: Have some of the longest lifespans of any storage medium. Are good for older systems and backwards compatibility.
- Cons: Upload/download speed is slower. They are more fragile. Have low storage capacities. Many computers no longer support them.
Thumb drive: This compact storage device has been around forever. The storage capacity for a thumb drives can be between 8GB and 1 TB.
- Pros: The least expensive way to back up and store your data. Costs between $3 for 8 GB to $25 for this one that holds 256 GB. Good upload-download speed. It’s compact, so it’s easy to add to an emergency kit. Can be used with any device that has a USB port.
- Cons: Since it’s small, may be easy to misplace. While 1 TB is an awful lot of storage, some may find it inadequate, especially if you have multiple computers or a lot of videos to back up.
External drive: If you don’t have a lot of information to store, a thumbdrive may be enough to store your important information. But for most of us, more storage is necessary. A one or two terabyte external hard drive can hold about 250,000 photos, 500 hours of video, or 6,500,000 document pages. This is will be enough for most people, but adjust to suit your needs.
- Pros: Has the largest storage capacity of all your options. There’s only a one time cost, about $50-150 depending on the size and features of the drive. You can store everything on your computer, including apps and programs. Properly stored, your data will be safe from EMPs or other electronic interruptions.
- Cons: Bulkier and more expensive than other options. You have to make a conscious effort to regularly back up your data.
The best strategy
What is a Faraday Cage?
A Faraday cage is a container made of conducting material, such as wire mesh or metal plates, that shields what it encloses from external electric fields. A car is an example of a Faraday cage. It can protect passengers from lightning.
You can make your own Faraday cage with any metal container: a metal trash can or ammo box. The ammo box has the added advantage
of being air tight, so it will also protect against moisture or humidity. Or you can cover an airtight/water-proof container (like Tupperware) with 3-5 layers of aluminum foil to hold smaller items, like a cell phone or an external hard drive.
This video shows a few ways to make a Farady Cage as well as how to protect electronic devices.
Do I need one?
A Faraday cage is the best way to protect all your electronic devices from an EMP. Right now an EMP is merely a theoretical threat. We really have no idea if it will ever occur, so it may not even be something you want to worry about.
I encourage you to do some research on the topic and decide for yourself if you think this is something you want to protect against. This article from WA State Dept of Health and this from Potamic eCycle are a good place to start.
More important than the specific type of storage is to have a multi-layered protection. Most people have exactly one copy of their data, in one place. If that copy is lost, that’s it. It’s gone.
The best way to ensure data stay safe is to have multiple storage devices, in multiple places. For example, you might have a thumb drive that you back up daily next to your PC, a hard drive you back up weekly that you keep in your bedroom, and a hard drive you back up monthly that you keep in a safety deposit box at the bank, keep at a friend’s house or in a Farady cage.
That way, you’re protected against multiple possible types of data loss. If something affects your PC, then you still have the thumb drive. If it affects your entire computer room, you still have the bedroom copy. If it affects your entire house, you still have the off-premises copy.
This fall, as you’re gathering up immunization records, birth certificates and the like, in order to register your children for school, take the time to make digital copies of all your important records and back up all your digital data.
Thank you!
Thank you to my youngest son, who gave me a lot of good information and insight on this topic. He graduated this spring with a degree in Computer Science. That’s the best kind of person to have around if you’re computer illiterate, like me.
He pointed me to this site where I got a lot of good information. He said “It’s a little technical, a little brusque, but the people who wrote it know their stuff.” He was right.
