Electro magnetic pulse proof backups

[mrsurrey]

Ok so I'm paranoid ;)

Does anyone here run a website database and have a backup plan for electro magnetic pulses?

I was thinking of daily backups to a remote server on the other side of the world, and a weekly manual backup to CD? Do you know if CDs are safe from electro magnetic pulses?

MrS
(I live near London hence the concern :))

[BLUE SKY THINKER]

Oh .....something else to worry about!

If I was that paranoid, I'm not sure I would be that confident about some parts of "the other side of the world" (particularly the obvious one in cyberspace).

http://www.thebunker.net/__data/assets/image/947/20060629_154215.jpg

Anyway, if you are serious then perhaps an enquiry to this lot (http://www.thebunker.net/security_shield/physical_security/electro_magnetic_pulse_protection) - a bit closer to home, in a bunker near you - may be able to point you in the right direction, albeit they look more 'major company' orientated. They certainly seem to have EMP covered.

Can't help you with the CD's; there seem enough scare stories around about relying on them solely for long term backup and storage, even before the EMP gets to them.

[Saab Dastard]

My own feeling is that I would have more pressing things to worry about than the state of my backups in the event of a nuclear explosion!

Assuming they aren't melted during the "incident", CDs should be impervious to the effects - although I suspect that no manufacturer has actually proved this under real world conditions!

SD

[Dark Star]

A faraday cage, a metal container which will shield the contents, will give a good degree of protection. My second set of backups (and other stuff) are in a steel freight container in a secure yard in a valley several miles away so should cope with most things. Putting your backups in a metal tin or even wrapping your CDs in aluminium foil will give significant protection and I would imagine a pulse strong enough to get past such measures is going to be accompanied by other sorts of bother !.

[IO540]

A continuous metal container should do it.

EMP is not much of a problem - except for equipment that involves cable runs, aerials sticking up, etc.

Small items can be protected easily.

A CD is vulnerable to powerful EM radiation - try putting one in a microwave (make sure your wife is not at home).

[mrsurrey]

Thanks guys, good fun isn't it? :ok:

I'll start looking into faraday cages and bunkers!

Cheers,

MrS

[seacue]

Bright direct sunlight will harm field-recordable CDs and DVDs given enough time.

Call the bunker a storm cellar, quite common on farms in the tornado-prone areas of the USA. Dorothy didn't make it theirs in time at the start of The Wizard of Oz. Who do your neighbors think they are if they don't like your preparations for tornados?

[Mac the Knife]

If you're THAT worried, print it all out on acid-free archival paper (ISO 9706) and store it in a waterproof safe with silica-gel and insecticide.

After a nuclear exchange there'll be plenty of time for you to transcribe your now useless data onto any surviving vacuum-tube computer that you've managed to resurrect.

Web III here I come!

:}