[kwlug-disc] Offline/offsite archival data storage

[Colin Mackay]

Good afternoon, KWLuggers!

I have been giving off-site data storage a once over again.  Google
searches keep pointing me to spending $$$ to upload data to 'the cloud',
but I really don't want to throw all my family photos and whatnot into the
cloud and hope something doesn't shut down due to financial or government
issues (MegaUpload).  Perhaps I'm too much of a control freak to hand my
precious data to 'the cloud'.

I don't want to resort to online and want to avoid monthly fees, however a
small initial investment is alright.  I'm looking at around 200 GB of
data.  127GB are family pictures and videos.  Damn DSLR' images and 1080p
videos take up a lot. :D

So my question to you folks, is what options are there for an offline /
offsite data store?

A few thoughts I had were to copy contents to an external HDD, then place
it somewhere secure, like a safety deposit box (which I already have), but
how long can I expect the data to last?  USB sticks?  SSD's?  LTO tapes?
How often are replacements required?

Another thought just sprung to mind while writing this...  A local WLAN
(mesh?) network.  You store your stuff, encrypted, at one or more friends
house over the air.  I wonder if a system like that exists?

I'd appreciate suggestions, comments, etc...


P.S. and FYI:
Currently I have a RAID 1 storage volume (2GB) that rsyncs nightly to an
external 2GB.  But it's all sitting in my basement.
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