Fireproof safe or file cabinets opinions?

If you want a safe place to keep your backed up data your best bet it to keep it off site. I've heard Carbonite is really good and cheap. Online Backup, Computer Backup Software & Remote Backup - Carbonite

I personally dont use off site backups but I really should.

 

The best bet I've seen is to back up important electronic files to an off-site location (for example, your computer at work, google docs, or on a flash drive in a safety deposit box).

Its probably a safe bet that the media you want to protect is either:
a. personally important, but non compromising (ie family photos)
b. potentially personally compromising (ie tax returns that could be used to steal your identity)

There's nothing wrong with taking advantage of google doc's to back up a ton of stuff you wouldn't want to lose in a fire. For the more sensitive items, however, i would personally not back them up online, as any online storage medium is susceptible to breaches in security.

Corporations go through this all the time. You have some sort of online database. That database backs up regularly to fail-over standby. Those back up to a pre-production that can be brought up to replace production quickly. That's written off onto long term storage periodically, and kept on site. After a few days, the long term storage is moved off-site (probably to another city) in case of extreme emergency (like Katrina).

 

Ahh... in that case a normal fire proof container would probably be sufficient. Since the materials in question are backups stored in an off-site location, you probably have enough redundancy to recover if the backups are lost from a fire (since you can just make another backup), as the likelihood of the backups AND the primaries being destroyed on the same day is probably very slim.

 

I tried Carbonite, THEY COMPLETLY SUCK PORK!!!!
When I want a back-up of my "C" drive, I want a COMPLETE back-up!
All carbonite will save is basically your My Documents files...that's it!
When I crashed the last computer I went to Carbonheads, and when it was done, all I had was ALL my directories, and sub directories, COMPLETLY EMPTY!!! the only directories that were repopulated, were My Documents and a couple of data files.....CRAP!!!

If you want a FULL back-up, use Nero, or something like it, and just do a COMPLETE copy of each hard drive...yes it's a Pain In Da nice person, but it's about the only way you can get back to where you were, with minimal data loss!!!

Don't waste your money with Carbonite, you WILL be disappointed!!

 

My first thought was something like this:




But then, maybe you should give these guys a call:
Data Protection and Recovery Services, Tape Vaulting, Online Backup, Disaster Recovery - Iron Mountain

 

One consideration is how the fire rating is achieved. A friend of mine with a significant stamp collection was horrified to learn that some 'fireproof' safes sprayed the contents with water to keep them cool.