Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Condensing Your Life on to a USB Flash Drive?

Posted by Cliff on from the what-to-take-and-what-to-put-it-on-to dept.

Fear the Clam asks: "My wife and I figure that if we plan for the worst, it'll never happen, so we've been putting together 'If public transportation bites it and we have two minutes to grab our stuff and start walking, never to return to NYC' getaway knapsacks. With luck they'll live in the closet forever. Coincidently, this morning the New York Times has an article about what to take when you have to leave home in a big hurry [DNA verification required], and they suggest making a list of all of things like Social Security and credit card numbers, scanning birth certificates, marriage license and tax returns, and saving it all on a USB flash drive. Since this would be a complete identity kit, encryption is of utmost importance. What's the best solution? A flash drive that claims to encrypt or a platform-independent, self-extracting, encrypted file on a regular drive? Any suggestions for sturdy drives?" Of course, the choice of USB flash drive covers only a part of the problem. What other data would you put on this piece of "contingency hardware", and how would you protect the drive itself in case you did have to "swim for it"?

2 of 888 comments (clear)

  1. hmm... by gcnaddict · · Score: 0, Redundant

    What would I put onto a USB flash drive in case of an emergency?

    ...

    GLQuake ^_^

    --
    Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
  2. It's not a secure solution, only an easy one by Snar+Bloot · · Score: 1, Redundant
    True...if you lose it, or get hit with a mongo flood, or have some giant EM radiation issue, or blah blah, you may still have a problem. But the guys saying "paper" aren't all wrong, and if you're like me, you have your docs in a fireproof safe in your house, you may have a safety deposit box, etc, etc.

    But hauling around a bulk of your info on a key chain isn't that bad an option. 99% of the people who find it couldn't get thru the basic PW access that most flash drives provide.

    And having the info you need would still be a pretty darn handy thing, when you needed it. I'm not sure it's any worse than having your insurance card, 3 or 4 credit cards, your bank card, or anything else you may carry around in your wallet.

    It's just a different media than paper. One that holds more. No harm there, any worse than carrying around a ream of printed material.