Are you ready for a disaster?

EARTHQUAKE
Yesterday an earthquake shook southern California. It was centered roughly 7 miles from where I live and weighed in around 5.4, so I definitely felt it. It lasted about 10 seconds (reports say 30) and though nothing in my house fell off shelves it did a pretty good dance. Less than a minute isn't really enough time grab valuables or make sure certain things are safe.

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS
Later that day I started thinking about disaster preparedness. I've always heard the advice to keep a copy of important data off-site, but if your data is changing daily you know how difficult it is to even back everything up (unless of course you have a great automated backup system).
In my work I generally burn large but discrete units of data to DVD's, but so far have only been burning one version. Occasionally I'll have to go back and update (i.e. re-burn) the data if anything has been changed in the data set. I'm considering a data swap with another organizational unit at work. I'll store your valuable data in my office if you store mine in yours. The only drawback with this method is that you have to trust without hesitation that the other organizational unit will not under any circumstances pry into your data and that they will care for it as if it were there own (or perhaps better).
I consider this method because of the low overhead, it would be practically free.

COLD STORAGE?
Probably the best method (which may also be the most costly) would be to send the data into long term cold storage. The drawback is that you wouldn't have ready access to the data - although I suppose if it's truly archival and perfect as is you wouldn't need access to it. Wouldn't it be great if any data was truly archival and perfect as is?

ONLINE STORAGE?
Another option that crosses my mind occasionally is online storage. There are plenty of options to store information online, many of which can be pricey (especially if you're sealing with large files). My concern about online storage is that it would be through individual companies, and individual companies are prone to dissolution. So even if I were to store things online I'd still want another copy saved somewhere else.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I'd like to ask you, my readers, do you store your valuable data somewhere other than on your computer? What devices do you use to back things up? Do you store anything off-site? Have you found any economical and brilliant solutions to long term data storage? Any ideas (no matter how crazy) will be welcomed with open arms. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail.
May all you data be free from harm.

Blog of note

Just stumbled across a blog that looks and sounds interesting. I have yet to read through all the posts, but I like the style and content so I'm posting a link. The blog is called Anywired and you can find it here.

Anywired is written for anyone who works online or wants to start, including freelancers, bloggers, entrepreneurs and telecommuters. Learn how to work the hours you want from anywhere in the world


Here's the post that hooked me:
A Practical Guide to Earning Six Figures: Changing Your Mind

Have blogs of note that you follow? Send me a link or post a comment.

Firefox Update: 3.0.1

Just upgraded to Firefox 3.0.1
doesn't look or feel any different, but apparently there are important security updates.
Read the release notes here.

After poking around the Mozilla site I found some tricks and tips.
One beginner trick I've never heard of before is pressing the command key and the plus sign or minus sign to zoom in and out of webpages. Works beautifully.

Reducing Information Overload

So I have to move from my current residence soon. Luckily before I found out I had already begun the process of reducing clutter and getting more organized. Now I'm at the point where I'm selling a bunch of my old CD's to a local record shop since they're taking up space and I never listen to them (similar to ads on websites).

There's a Firefox Add-on that also helps reduce the clutter during your browsing time. Its called Remove It Permanently. It allows you to delete advertising, iFrames and various objects that clutter your screen. It has a lot of advanced configurations, such as Remove from this page only, Remove from all similar pages, this website, etc. Although it might take awhile to remove all the unwanted items from websites you frequent the end result is a much cleaner, less cluttered browsing experience.

Massive file transfer

The other day, as part of some information engineering I was doing, I needed to ingest a folder of high quality Tiff files. The combined size of all the files was 35GB. I had brought my trusty WD Passport external hard drive and figured I’d just dump them from the host computer onto there. Once we connected it (via USB mind you) and began copying the files it estimated the task would take 13 hours. We watched and waited in disbelief until I realized they had the same folder of images on a large external hard drive that was connected to the host computer via Firewire. Since I had my laptop I figured we should connect the large external hard drive to my laptop and see how much more quickly the process would go. Estimated time for all files to be transferred: approximately 23 minutes. Luckily that worked fine.


If it didn’t my next step would’ve been to try the master and slave computer trick, except I didn’t have a Firewire to Firewire cable…but I’m wondering now if their external hard drive had just such a cable attached. I suppose a few extra cables would be good to keep on hand for just such events. Since I’m in the market for a good laptop bag I’ll be looking for some good pockets for extra cables.

What do you look for in a computer carry-case?

Do you have any favorite brands or styles?

clocked in

data migration planning on a train.
The long train ride from Los Angeles to San Diego went extremely quick since I was working. It's amazing how time flies when you're processing data.

Luckily Amtrak has electrical sockets at nearly all the seats.
I'm at a Starbucks downtown San Diego right now, found free wifi (not starbucks)...large cities are good for free wifi.