How to Fireproof, Waterproof, Crushproof Your Data

Take all your system disks like your Windows or Mac OS, your Microsoft Office disks, Quark, or other data files, and slide them into the supplied sleeves. You should have enough room to store 60 discs and about another 12 or so USB flash drives. Then simply run a backup from your software, close the lid, lock the cover and put the key in a safe place.

Voila! Your business is a fireproof, nearly bombproof operation.

Love that.

Now, there are several issues.

You still are going to need to keep track of your software keys. Those are the really long, hard to type, numbers that come with your software discs that identify you to your computer and your vendor. You will need to copy them by hand -- copy machines tend not to work -- and keep that copy near the discs in the safe. Do that very, very carefully. If one digit is wrong you have lost your investment in your software.

Also, the Data Storage Chest is not a networked device. This unit only runs via a direct USB connection to a single computer. With a bit of tinkering, you can make other computers back up to this unit, but that can become a pain in its own right. So if you have lots of machines and data, you will need lots of chests. And at $170 per unit for what is basically a fireproof file drawer, these systems are not exactly cheap.

But still, having lived through a fire near my own office, I can tell you that having one of these babies around would have made events a whole lot less stressful.

An ounce of digital protection -- or more like 20 pounds of it -- is worth many, many pounds of cure.