Tue Jun 18, 2013, 12:49 AM

dballance (5,756 posts)

Anyone know of a "reliable" fire & water-proof safe for media?

Like most people these days I archive my photos/videos and my docs etc. on DVD (soon to be Blu-Ray).

Is there a fire safe out there that actually works? I checked consumer's reports and just did general google. This one from SentrySafe http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-QA0110-Fire-Safe-Waterproof-Storage/dp/B001F7HPMS keeps popping up.

Other background. I've tried the online backups - too slow given my connection speed. Yes, I'm kind of just thinking about stashing my backups at a friend's house in return for doing the same for them. That's off-site storage but a pain to maintain.

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7 replies	Author	Time	Post
Anyone know of a "reliable" fire & water-proof safe for media? (Original post)	dballance	Jun 2013	OP
Flash drives are cheap.	hobbit709	Jun 2013	#1
Have you considered a Fire/Water proof NAS?	ChromeFoundry	Jun 2013	#2
There is no such thing as fireproof, just fire resistant.	ManiacJoe	Jun 2013	#3
Of Course, You are Correct.	dballance	Jun 2013	#4
A safe deposit box is about $50 a year.	RILib	Jun 2013	#5
Sentry is the best available. I'd recommend this, but there other options.	StanGr	Aug 2013	#6
Post removed	Post removed	Sep 2013	#7

Response to dballance (Original post)

Tue Jun 18, 2013, 05:52 AM

hobbit709 (41,694 posts)

1. Flash drives are cheap.

You can get a 128Gb one for around $60-70 on sale.
All my musics fits on a 64Gb one.
I have a couple stashed at my brother's, a couple more in my fire safe with the important personal papers.

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Response to dballance (Original post)

Tue Jun 18, 2013, 07:21 AM

ChromeFoundry (3,270 posts)

2. Have you considered a Fire/Water proof NAS?

Last edited Tue Jun 18, 2013, 09:44 AM - Edit history (1)

With the cost of storage dropping, especially SSD drives, this may be a better option in the long run if you are looking for around 5TB or less of real estate. By installing a automated Sync tool, you could schedule your backups.

Example: http://www.klsecurity.com/waterproof-harddrive.htm

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Response to dballance (Original post)

Tue Jun 18, 2013, 04:42 PM

ManiacJoe (10,100 posts)

3. There is no such thing as fireproof, just fire resistant.

Safes are rated for X degrees of heat for Y minutes, this one at "30 minutes at 1550F". Not a lot of time, but if you live close to the fire station.... Certainly beats nothing, which is what I am using....

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Response to ManiacJoe (Reply #3)

Tue Jun 18, 2013, 10:03 PM

dballance (5,756 posts)

4. Of Course, You are Correct.

I've looked at the ratings for the time/temp and I'm not very impressed. 30 minutes at a certain number of degrees isn't that impressive. But what do I know about the height of fire temps vs. time a typical house fire will burn? I know there are "four-hour fire safes" for documents.

Right now I'm thinking the best option is to just buy a lock box and lock the darned media in my car trunk since the condo complex in which I live does not have garages for the cars it's unlikely both my condo and car will be engulfed given their proximity. Seems like a fairly inexpensive option and if someone steals the car they'll be sorely disappointed with the contents of the lock box. Unless they like family photos and my desire to be artistic

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Response to dballance (Original post)

Sat Jun 29, 2013, 06:31 PM

RILib (862 posts)

5. A safe deposit box is about $50 a year.

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Response to dballance (Original post)

Thu Aug 1, 2013, 05:23 PM

StanGr (62 posts)

6. Sentry is the best available. I'd recommend this, but there other options.

http://www.sentrysafe.com/Products/383/DS0100_Combination__FIRE-SAFE_

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Response to dballance (Original post)

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