Hi all,
I’m looking for some input on the best ways to store/safeguard/backup personal information. A building next door to mine burned down recently, and I figured I’m relatively unprepared.
The information would include: financial information, tax filings, birth certificate, passwords to accounts etc. Currently a lot of this is in paper format and I’m looking to consolidate everything and also have a secure backup in the case of an emergency.
1. Where should I be storing this information for general use? I use a windows based laptop and apart from free adaware I don’t run any sort of virus/malware protection, and in general know very little about computer security. Currently all I have in digital format is a protected excel spreadsheet that tracks budget/equity etc.
2. What is the best backup format, cloud vs. external storage? I had an external backup hard drive and the usb connecter on it snapped, rendering it completely useless. I would definitely like something more robust. I'm biased towards an external drive and more suspect of cloud storage for this type of information, but I don't know if that is a concern. How often should I be backing up and is one source sufficient?
3. What should I be keeping in paper format? Items such as birth certificate are obvious, but others like tax filings I can just get off the cra website on demand, so not too concerned.
4. What’s the best way to save passwords? Unfortunately I have ended up with 10 different variations of a similar password for a lot of login information, due to different security protocols. I don’t save these in my browser.
Thanks!