Offline Secure Digital Storage Devices

jhmtaylor on 17/12/2017 - 13:07

I am looking for a storage device which is a bit better than your average USB stick and would be interested in receiving some suggestions. The purpose is to store important personal information such as details about bank accounts, credit cards, investments, insurance, passport for estate planning purposes. I already use Lastpass Pro (which is great) but I want offline storage as well. At present I am using paper and I need something that is more secure.

Those Digital Wallets used for storing Crypto currencies may be a possibility but I do not know enough about them. Can they store general information on them? It so which ones? Is the storage media any more reliable than your average USB stick?

PS I have looked into storage at banks etc, but the ongoing costs are high and difficult to access throughout the year, which I would need to do because I have about 60 account records.

Computing

Comments

    • jhmtaylor on 17/12/2017 - 14:44

      I have looked at SSD's and thought they would not be suitable because I understand they have a relatively short life if they are not in regular use.

  • jhmtaylor on 17/12/2017 - 15:48

    Thanks for your advice.

    As I said it is for estate planning purposes. It is conceivable that I be alive for years but me or anybody else not being able to power the devices up. Alzheimers, dementia, stroke, coma or trauma etc

    This topic is becoming an issue for the wider community because some much information about our lives and our transactions resides solely in the digital space. There is a business opportunity there somewhere.

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 17/12/2017 - 17:15

    Do you have a non-cryptocurrency example where you feel that the required information to a financial asset may be irrecoverable if lost and if so, it could have devastating consequences?

    For me the most frustrating, potentially life-long example, is providing proof of capital gains in an audit. As far as I know, there's no way to store receipts and other documents with the ATO but if you sell an investment property in 60 years they officially expect that you have kept all receipts for capital works and the like. Even with digital statements, having digital backups (even properly "signed") won't necessarily help in 100 years when the banks' or government's computer says otherwise.

    I have heard of M-DISC (https://www.pcworld.com/article/2984597/storage/hard-core-da…) theoretically lasting 1000 years for anything you want passed on through generations. As always, you still need redundant duplicates stored in different locations but it's good to have a solution that might continue to work when you forget to backup to the latest technology in 300 years…

    It's interesting how we went from keeping hard copies of photos that fade over time to digital photos that can't be seen at all unless you have the tools to decode it. I'm a literate, average earthling and even I wouldn't understand the Voyager Golden Record

  • jhmtaylor on 17/12/2017 - 18:02

    "Do you have a non-cryptocurrency example where you feel that the required information to a financial asset may be irrecoverable if lost and if so, it could have devastating consequences"
    All up I have 10 bank accounts (yes they are required), 5 stock broking accounts, 3 superfunds, 9 share registry accounts plus another 30 less important accounts etc. I do not think all of it would be lost but my executor will be cursing me long after I have gone trying to forensically put all the pieces together.

    I was the executor of my mother's will which was a relatively simple exercise (2 bank accounts, one annuity plus house) and it took me about 25 hours to sort it out.

  • jhmtaylor on 17/12/2017 - 18:06

    I am familiar with M-Discs. The problem is many devices do not come with disc drives any more

  • jhmtaylor on 19/12/2017 - 16:42

    I have just decided to go with Trezor. Hopefully the storage media is better than average.

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