Link: The Macbook Experience at WhatTheTech.com

1. DNSQueries.com – A good looking, well performing site with unobtrusive advertising, and a wealth of IP, DNS, and domain tools. Multi-lingual, and a support forum is available. Here you’ll find the most often used tools.
2. iptools.com – Another very comprehensive site offering free IP and domain lookup tools, only lacking a DNS report. Ad sponsored.
3.  intoDNS.com – If you’re just looking for something similar to DNSreport this site offers it free, and ad free. The format should be familiar.
4. DNSsy.com – Another report very similar in form and function to DNSreport. The site also includes a couple other basic lookup tools. Not only free, but ad free.
5. FixYourIP.com is another site that offers a nice collection of lookup tools. Ad supported. 

…5 more sites that deserve a mention:

1. dnscolos.com – Another free and effective DNS report site. Advertising free.
2. checkdns.net – The final DNS report site. Some may prefer the more detailed output.
3. freednsinfo.com – Another multi-lingual domain, IP, and network tool site.
4. dnstools.iball.id.au – Not the easiest domain to remember, but a clean and simple tool site.
5. mydnstools.info – Last but certainly not least. Free DNS, networking, IP and domain tools.

One more bonus site. While some of the charts it creates and tools are cool, it can be slow. It also seems parts of it may not be working. Geeky enough that it had to be included: serversniff.net

The bottom line is that you may be able to find all the tools you need using free alternatives to DNSstuff. However, they won’t all be conveniently located at one site, and won’t all offer the speed and performance of dnsstuff.com. If you host a lot of sites, own a webhosting company, or are a frequent user of the tools dnsstuff offers, than $79/year may be a reasonable investment. If you’re like most of the rest of us, and  only need to access the tools occasionally, it’s nice to know there are free alternatives available.

The full version is intended for IT professionals, and is available only as part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance customers. However, you can download a free-trial as part of the Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset. After downloading this toolset, install it to find an ISO file containing ERD Commander:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset\erd50.iso

An ISO is a special file that when burned to a CD can create a bootable CD. Windows doesn’t support ISO burning without third-party software. ISO Recorder is a very simple, and free program for creating CDs from ISOs. After you’ve burned the CD from the ISO, simply boot the system from the CD you just created to start ERD Commander. If your system doesn’t boot from the CD, you might have to change the BIOS boot settings (boot order).

A couple of caveats. The trial version of ERD Commander is ERD Commander 2005. The latest version (currently ERD 6.0) is only shipping with the Desktop Optimization Pack. While version 6.0 is Vista compatible, 2005 is not (compatible with Windows NT, 2000, XP, and Server 2003). The  trial period is 30 days. Next time you’re faced with an unbootable Windows XP system, give ERD Commander a try.

Symantec’s history over the last few years seems to match the second definition. The huge security company, which just a few years ago has been the biggest and doubtless the most influencing security software developer around, witnessed a steep downfall in sales. The security giant, whose products were once installed in almost every new computer, was taunted by the Revolution of the Internet. Faster download speeds made it easier to find alternatives – some of which were free; so did online reviews and comparisons, which were available to everyone: not only in geeky computer magazines.

Symantec’s products were simply too bloated and buggy, and even as alternatives began to gain popularity, Symantec didn’t make a proper change. Ironically, it was Norton 360, an all-in-one suite targeted at home users, that made a 180 degree change with low performance requirements, a redesigned and intuitive interface and a huge leap forward in general. Now, the latest generation of Symantec’s 2009 security suites is held to a higher standard, as the company makes yet bolder promises. So we’ve tried out Norton Internet Security 2009, and here’s what we have to say.

Installing

Norton Internet Security 2009 (or NIS2009) was off to a rough start. First was the psychological factor: I didn’t want to like it. I had bad experience with previous Norton products and security suites. Second, the installation file is a whooping 58.6 megabyte in size; that’s almost double the size of Kaspersky’s Internet Security suite, NIS’s main competitor, and for years, the better choice of the two.

Once the download was completed, however, I was impressed by the speed of the installation, which only took about 2 minutes in total, not even requiring a restart in the end. No complex settings or daunting wizards to go through, either: NIS2009 launched itself flawlessly and was ready for action in just a couple of seconds.

Features & Interface

So what will you get for your money? Besides the traditional components, such as an anti-virus with active protection and an anti-spyware along with a firewall, NIS2009 offers an anti-phishing component (which blocks access to suspicious or dangerous websites), identity & log-in cards (allowing you to preset identities and sensitive information to enter in websites), parental control (which you need to install separately) and home network monitoring (allowing you to see the status of other computers in the network, as well as their security status – if they’re using NIS2009 too, and also determining if your wireless connection is secure and encrypted).

Opening the main window of NIS2009 reveals 3 different parts controlling different areas of protection: Computer (anti-virus and anti-spyware protection), Internet (firewall, intrusion prevention, e-mail scanning and network security) and Identity (identity cards, anti-phishing). Each of these areas takes a different part of the screen, allowing the user to disable or enable their main features with a single click, as well as access a more complex array of settings, shown in a separate screen. There are also two performance bars total system CPU usage vs. Norton’s CPU usage, and a button to launch LiveUpdate. You’ll also find quick help texts near every control on the main screen. All in all a simple and clean layout to which I got accustomed quickly.

If you’re a more advanced user or a control freak, NIS2009 will satisfy your needs. You can control  virtually every feature; the complex settings are organized in categories, and you can access yet more complex settings through the submenus. A bit confusing, but users that choose to dig into these settings will probably know their way around, though I found that basic information like a filepath of an infection, require way too much digging around sub-sub menus. Same for firewall – which is set on ’silent’ by default (meaning you won’t get notifications prompting you to block or allow programs to connect to the internet). And while NIS2009 does a good job in filtering these, I would like to see the firewall settings laid out in a more basic way and with less digging around menus.

Touching on control freaks, they will definitely like the performance meter familiar from previous versions of Norton Internet Security. This performance meter shows total CPU consumption vs. percent consumed by NIS2009. We’ll touch on the subject of performance later on, but you can also get very comprehensive graphs and reports on background jobs done by NIS2009 when the PC is idle.

One of the most important innovations in NIS2009 is Norton Insight, a technology allowing you to cut scanning times by mapping known “good” files, either from an online database or from a user input. It works by clicking the Norton Insight button in the main window, and allowing Norton Insight to scan known directories for ‘good’ files. You can also specify specific files that you want to check against the online database. As you can see from the screenshot, on my PC Norton Insight found only 19% ‘trusted files’, but that means many files and a significant reduction in scanning time. The great thing about this feature is that it’s community based. NIS2009 collects data from users (with permission) and tests to see if the same files appear in many different computers. If so, the file is assumed safe by Norton Insight, thus reducing scan times. So, with time this feature can only improve.

NIS2009 also includes the LiveUpdate feature built-in the product, unlike previous versions which had a clumsy and separate application performing updates. LiveUpdate here works flawlessly, and downloads definitions every several minutes. Thankfully, NIS2009 doesn’t disturb you to inform you of this, but more about this later on.

Like most security suites today, NIS2009 includes predefined log-in cards which you can configure and define as you like. You can password protect them or not, and you can set a master password required each time you want to use a certain log-in. All around a basic and easy to use feature, that also uses a toolbar (thankfully supporting both Explorer and Firefox, unlike previous versions) to fill in details. This toolbar also gives you information about site safety (phishing).

Performance & Detection

Performance was one of the biggest issues of previous NIS versions, and this version is lighter than ever. In normal computer usage – background operation with no scans running – Norton consumed between 10 to 20mb of memory; very impressive, and actually better than some standalone products. While scanning, NIS2009 took between 60 and 70mb of memory in a given moment, which on a fairly modern machine should not slow things much.

Like most modern anti-virus solutions, NIS2009 offers a ‘Quick Scan’ feature (scanning high-risk areas), which is quick indeed – on my machine this scan took just under 40 seconds – while scanning just below 4,000 files. A full scan, however, will take several hours – depending on the size of your hardrive, computer speed and amount of files.

Evidently, a great deal of effort has been put to make NIS2009 as silent as possible, hence the  inclusion of Silent Mode (also present in previous versions of NIS and other Symantec products). Like the name says, Silent Mode makes sure NIS2009 won’t disturb you during games or movies. You can set it to detect full screen automatically and turn Silent Mode automatically, or set it for a specific period of time. Once the time is over or full screen is ended, Norton will notify you if there were security incidents during the period. However, to my surprise I found that using Silent Mode isn’t necessary; NIS2009 was very quiet and didn’t alert me unless a shield has been disabled or it found a suspicious activity, even without Silent Mode.

However, not everything was perfect with NIS2009. While security suites traditionally have high detection rates, many have a lot of false positives, and this was the case here. On my clean machine, NIS2009 found several false positives and marked them as ‘highly dangerous’. Also, I encountered occasional problems with file downloads freezing, unless I turned NIS2009’s Active Protection off. Same with bigger file transfers through MSN Messenger. I also didn’t like the short freezing between clicks in the main program window.

Overall I would rate NIS a huge improvement over its predecessors, and a huge success. If you were to list the most common complaints about Norton Antivirus, and Norton Internet Security this release answers them all:

1. Bloated
2. Difficult to remove
3. Large memory footprint
4. Resource hog
5. Live Update

Norton has always enjoyed good detection rates, now it has a quality application and interface to go with them. It should be on your short list of antivirus applications. NOD32 was my former antivirus of choice (a geek favorite). I now run Norton Antivirus, and I can say it proudly. Well done Norton!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

We have contacted the winner, and received a reply with permission to use their full name. Congratulations to Ramkumar Venkatachalam of India! His comment (number 378), was drawn at random:

good old dvd’s in a pouch thats my backup strategy

It sounds like he’ll be putting the backup drives to good use.

Didn’t win? Don’t sweat it. Enter for a chance to win over $6,000 of HP hardware here, and at 49 other sites!

To the $6,000 Geeks to Go HP Magic Giveaway contest!

What?

One winner will receive a prize package valued at over $6,000! Including all of the following:

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 AIO Desktop PC
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC
• HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC
• HP Mini 1000
• HP MediaSmart Connect digital media receiver
• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO multifunction
• HP 564 Photo Value Pak
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate and Home Premium preinstalled
• Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition
• Microsoft Windows Live
• Corel VideoStudio X2
• Kung Fu Panda (DVD & Blu-ray)

Brought to you by HP, Microsoft, and geekstogo.com.

How?

At Geeks to Go we share the magic. Our tech experts provide free tech help in our forums. We share our technical knowledge with others in need. We get a magical feeling whenever we get a heartfelt thanks from someone we’ve been able to help.

This prize package contains an embarrassment of riches. We’re going to ask our contest winner to share the feeling that comes from giving magic. To enter our contest, simply reply in the comments with what part of the prize package you’d share, and with whom you’d share it (no full names please). The winner will be drawn at random from the qualified entries. So, while there’s no need for a long entry, I and others may enjoy reading them.

The holidays are a time for giving. Many organizations and individuals are in need. We recommend a donation to an organization, not an individual or relative, but the final decision is yours. If requested, we can mail your donation anywhere in the world. We also want to hear your story! If possible, take videos or photos of your recipient, along with a story of the donation. We’d like to publish it, and share your experience of giving magic.

When?

The winner will be drawn from qualified comments posted between December 04, 2008, and December 10, 2008 12PM (noon) CST. Our announcement will be posted shortly after noon (CST) on December 10, 2008 (subscribe to our RSS feed). The winner will also be notified via the email address they used to comment. If 24 hours goes by without a reply, a new winner will be chosen.

Who?

This is an international competition. We will ship the prize package, including any donated portion to anyone worldwide (as permitted by US law). Staff members of this site (including GeekU), previous winners from other sites participating in this contest, and employees of HP, Microsoft, and BuzzCorps are not allowed to enter — bummer.

The Rules

1. Entries accepted as comments in this post only. Entries in any other areas of the site will not be counted.
2. ONE entry per person. Those entering more than once will be disqualified (it’s easy to catch).
3. Contest dates and times. Only comments submitted between 12:01am CDT Dec 04, 2008 and 12:00pm (noon) Dec 10, 2008.
4. Geeks to Go is a family friendly site. Any submissions that break this rule will be disqualified, and removed.
5. This is an international competition. As allowed by US law, everyone is allowed to enter. Not allowed to enter are Geeks to Go staff members, and GeekU members. Nor, employees of HP, Microsoft and Buzzcorps. Previous winners of other HP Magic contests can not win again.
6. You must provide a valid email address with your comment. The winner will be notified using the email address provided. If no response to the notification email is received within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
7. A US winner will receive payment from HP, Microsoft and Buzzcorps to offset the tax liability.
8. Geeks to Go reserves the right to change the rules of this contest as needed.

If you’re new to this site, we share magical moments every day, by providing free tech help. Our magical moments come from helping someone solve a technology problem. It could be as simple as removing the Language Bar, or as complex as removing the latest rootkit that your antivirus missed. If you have some magic to share, or just want to learn more, please visit our forums.

The Holiday Magic Prize Package:

• • HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC with Windows
  • HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC with Windows
  • HP MediaSmart Connect
  • HP Pavilion dv4-1145go Entertainment Notebooks with Windows
  • HP Mini 1000 series with Windows
  • HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO
  • HP 564 Series Photo Value Pack
  • Microsoft Office Home & Student 2007
  • Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate / Home Premium
  • Microsoft Windows XP (Mini 1000 units)
  • Microsoft Windows Live
  • Corel VisualStudio X2
  • Kung Fu Panda widescreen DVDs

What’s included? It’s an impressive array HP of hardware. An awesome 25″ touchscreen desktop, a notebook with a huge 18″ screen, a 14″ entertainment notebook, and an ultra small and light, Mini1000 netbook with a 10″ screen. Plus a MediaSmart Connect that makes it easy to share media from a computer with your HDTV (photos, music, even HD video). HP accessories include a wireless All-in-One printer/scanner/copier, and a Photo Value Pak.

Microsoft wraps up the software with Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows XP (Mini 1000). Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (1 DVD w/ 3 licenses), and Microsoft Windows Live. Completing the package is Corel VideoStudio X2, and the movie Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 Blu-ray disc).

Yes, one lucky winner takes it all, and there are 50 chances to win. To see all 50 participating sites, visit the official HP Magic site, or view the complete list after the break…

Each site is free to set their own contest rules, so be sure to check each site, review their contest, and enter to win!

AbsoluteVista
Barb’s Connected World
Bleeping Computer
BostonPocketPC
Carlos Alberto
CíberPrensa
Digital Home Thoughts
Digital Inspiration
Down-to-Earth Mama
Eliax
Gadgetell
Gear Live
GearDiary
Geek News Central
Geek.com
Geeks To Go!
Geeks!
GeeksRoom
Geekzone
Gotta Be Mobile
HackCollege
I Started Something
InfoWester
JK On the Run
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Last 100
Liliputing
Living – In Theory
MediaBlab
merlot mom
moosh in indy.
Morningside Mom
Neowin
Notebooks.com
Noticias Tech
One Day, One Job
OSNN
Planet x64
Slashdot Review
SlashGear
Stop, Drop & Blog
Student Bloggers
Study Hacks – Demystifying College Success
Techie Diva
Techmamas
The Digital Lifestyle
The Gadgeteer
Thoughts on poetics & tech
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Windows Connected

Recently, he was asked his opinions about netbooks. What is a netbook? The Asus Eee was probably the first to claim this new category. These $300-500 notebooks occupy a category previously dominated by small and light $2,500 notebooks. These minimal 9-10” systems are mostly geared to access the Internet. However, they have serious compromises. Pat argues that while netbook prices have gone up, notebook prices have come down. Battery life of the netbooks also fails to meet expectations, as well as no optical drive, small screen, and very small or no hard drive. What do you think about Pat’s comments, and about netbooks?

Enter Systemlookup.com, a new home for these community contributed databases, hosted by Javacool. Javacool is the author of SpywareBlaster and other helpful tools. Systemlookup.com has an attractive, clean design, is very fast, and advertising free. While it’s still a work in progress, and new features are planned, it’s very useful.

Whether you assist people remove malware, are curious about entries in your HijackThis log, want to learn more about what’s running on your system, or even want to contribute a new item, be sure to bookmark Systemlookup.com!

SystemLookup hosts a collection of lists that provide information on the components of legitimate and potentially unwanted programs.
They are maintained by superb members of the Internet community, for the benefit of the community at large.

I have to start with a disclaimer. This unit has not been tested in an actual fire and this article will make no claims as to the amount of fire and heat this creation can stand. During the course of this article I am going to break the warranty on a few pieces of equipment. Follow these directions at your own risk. The author of this article and GeeksToGo.com assume no liability for those who choose to follow these directions.

What I needed:

1. NAS or other PHD (Portable Hard Drive)
2. Personal Fireproof Safe
3. Drill & Drill Bits
4. Category6 Network Cable
5. Fire Stop Caulk
6. Wire Cutters
7. Shrink Tubing
8. Soldering gun and solder
9. RJ45 Crimping Tool and ends
10. Hot Glue gun and sticks or Rubber Cement
11. Surge protector with RJ45 surge protection

For the purposes of this article, I chose the following equipment.

1. NewerTech miniStack NAS 750
2. SentrySafe H0100 Fire-Safe Waterproof Chest
3. 3M Fire Barrier Sealant (caulk)

I already had the NewerTech NAS from a previous review that I had written. The unit performed very well, and even though I really didn’t want to risk destroying such a useful device, I wanted to do this article more. Being Network Attached, the NAS gave me the flexibility to place The Tank anywhere in the house. This unit also runs very quiet and cool; both are necessary features when planning to run in a confined space.

I chose the SentrySafe (Model H0100) for many reasons. First, the unit costs about $25 and can be found at your local supermarket. I got mine at WalMart. It’s waterproof and UL Rated to withstand heat up to 1550 Degrees. It’s small in size to make it easier to place in an inconspicuous place. Even with its small size, it has more than enough room for my NAS, while still leaving a little space for breathing room.

The 3M caulk was the first thing I came across at Lowes. It’s easy to apply (comes in a caulk tube), waterproof, bonds to metal surfaces, won’t eat the plastic coating on wires, and dries quickly. 3M says the caulk restores fire rated construction to its original integrity, which is good since we will be drilling holes in our safe. When introduced to fire, the caulk expands to fill in the holes more thoroughly.

Now that we have the why, and what, let’s look at how…

Step 1 – Prepare the NAS I had to do a number of things to the NAS to make this work, most of which will void the warranty. Remember, continue at your own risk.

First I took apart the plastic case. It won’t be necessary with the NAS’s fancy new steel outer structure. The plastic will just take up room inside the safe. We need more room so that we have more airspace to help keep the drive cooler during normal usage.

I also removed the LED lights. Again, they aren’t necessary and only serve to generate heat. I considered re-wiring the LED activity lights and mounting them on the exterior of the safe, but that would require drilling another hole. I’m shooting for fewer holes for better protection. Function over aesthetics.

The NewerTech NAS comes with a small heat sink that can be found on the underside of the NAS unit to help disperse heat. For the time being, I am going to use the supplied heat sink to see if it will suffice in an enclosed environment. If not, I have an idea for a bigger heat sink to help keep things running efficiently.

In yet another attempt to void the warranty of this awesome piece of equipment, I cut the power cable. I cut the cable between the power block and the NAS, for two reasons. First, the power block expels heat, which we want to minimize inside the safe. Second, the end of the cable that plugs into the NAS is too big. To maximize fire protection, we want to keep the holes in the safe small.

I took an extra step by stripping off some of the factory shielding and replacing it with my own, much smaller shielding. That allowed the hole in the safe to be even smaller. I used the shrink tubing to protect the wires, and to assure that the bare wires didn’t short out on the safe walls.

Step 2 – Prepare the Network Cable Much like with the power cable for the NAS, I customized my network cable to minimize the size of the hole needed to go through the safe.

Remember when stripping or playing with network cabling, it’s important to keep the twists in the wire. These are important. I didn’t replace the outer shielding on the network cable. I ran the shielded part right up to the outside of the safe, but everything inside the case will be unshielded.

Step 3 – Prepare the safe Once I had the network and power cables customized, I tested to see how big of a drill bit I needed to make the holes in my safe. I recommend using a good quality drill bit as these safes are pretty well made.

To determine exactly how small of a hole I could get away with, I took my drill bits and made test holes in a piece of wood first. I decided on 2 different drill bits, one for the network cable, another for the power cord. Once I found the smallest holes possible, I was ready to drill. I’ve chosen not to include the bit size I used, because the bit size you need will vary depending on the cable used, and how much work you chose to do with the shielding.

Now comes the part where I drill holes in a perfectly good safe. Those with weak stomachs might want to stop here. Again, keep in mind that we’re breaking warranties here. As a note, some home safes are filled with sand, or at least a loose substance, inside the walls of the safe. This acts as insulation for the fireproofing. It’s important to keep this in mind when picking a spot to drill the hole. I picked a spot on the lower half of the safe in the back… near the hinges. I thought this would be the best place with the flattest surface for drilling. I first tested by opening the lid to be sure I wouldn’t pinch the wires when I opened the safe for any reason.

Now with my holes drilled, I quickly inserted the wires and caulked the holes both inside and out. I used my fingers to make sure I had a tight fit around the wires.  This again assures minimal loss of  insulation that was housed inside the cavities of the safe. Although the caulk says that it sets up in under 10 minutes, I left my creation overnight. I didn’t break anything loose as I was pulling and moving the wires while putting it together.

Step 4 – Put the wires back together Now that the wires are through the safe wall, and the caulk holding them in place is dry, it’s time to put everything back together. I started out by sliding the old shielding on the network cable to make the job look nice.  To place a new RJ45 end on the Cat6 cable so that the unit is ready for communication, I used my handy-dandy crimping tool. Ensure the Cat6 cable twists are still in place.

I used a soldering gun and more shrink tubing to repair the cut I made in the electrical cord. I also used a larger piece of shrink tubing around both the wires to keep them together, and to try to make it as safe as possible. A fireproof safe isn’t much good if the fire starts inside the safe!

Step 5 – Install what’s left of the NAS At this point the NAS is little more than a hard drive with an attached heat sink and a circuit board. To ensure that the circuit board doesn’t short out on the steel structure it will be housed in, it’s important to use either rubber cement or a hot glue gun. Either of those substances will insulate the electrical components from the steel.  I placed the top of the NAS under the drive to provide some extra insulation.

Don’t use too much glue because we want to leave as much airspace as possible inside the safe, but use enough glue to give a little airspace under the unit. You’ll have to judge for yourself the proper amount. Be sure you check clearance of the lid of the safe when it’s closed.

Step 6 – Setup outside protection for the NAS In the list of items used above, I noted a surge protector with RJ45 (Network) protection. If your data is protected from fire, it might as well be protected from electrical surges as well. Ensure that your drive and network connections are connected to the surge protector. Not only does this give us some more protection for our secure data, but it allows us easy access to be able to power the NAS on and off when necessary.

Construction done, now what?

Now that we’re done putting it together, it’s time to do some testing. I started with a simple test, with the safe open, to ensure that my customizations didn’t break anything. I turn on the NAS and tried to connect to it with my computer. Fortunately, everything worked just as it had when it was running in its own case.

Next, it’s time to do some long-term testing to see how the drive fares in the confines of the safe. For the purposes of this test I have a wired thermometer. I’ll close it inside the safe so that I can monitor temperatures.

My house is air conditioned and I keep it at a comfortable 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Most hard drive manufacturers recommend that a drive operate in temperatures between 32 and 140 degrees F. With a maximum temperature around 140 degrees F and a room temperature of 72 degrees F, I expect to have enough headroom to make this experiment work. Note – 140 degrees Fahrenheit is maximum temperature and is certainly not our target. Drives generally operate best at less than 100 degrees F.

Under normal operation, with no one writing to the drive, the temperatures inside the safe ranged between 75 and 80 degrees. We’re off to a good start. Considering the maximum temperatures provided earlier, I’m pretty happy with the current results.

After allowing the drive to idle for a few hours so I could record the temperature results, I thought it was time to move on to a little more strenuous test to see how the temperature would change when the drive was put to work. To make the drive work, I tried performing a full system backup from my laptop. That’s about 85GB of data and should take some time to complete. About midway through the backup, the temperature reached its peak at 97 degrees Fahrenheit. While this is certainly not an optimal temperature, it’s well below the maximum temperature and even below our target temperature of 100 degrees F.

Since short tests are not very conclusive, I decided to check the temperature as often as possible over the course of a week, so as to continue to monitor the temperatures inside the safe. During the course of my test week, with nightly backups and sporadic access to the drive for access to my storage data, I watched the temperature gauge as often as I could remember. The average temperature through the testing period was somewhere between 87 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The peak temperature I recorded during testing was 101 degrees F.

What can this creation handle?

The amount of fire your drive can withstand relies on the safe that you choose.  The better the safe, the better your drive will fare in the event of a fire.  For this test, I chose a cheap safe.  It’s effective, and will work, but isn’t the best option if you have very important data to protect.

Taking into account the specs of the safe, this creation should withstand 1500 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.  It’s also waterproof, so the efforts of the firefighting team shouldn’t damage the drive either.  I would say it was well worth the $40 I have invested in it (in addition to the NAS device).

Final thoughts.

Basically this is a risk-vs-reward project.  To complete this project, you risk breaking the warranty on some equipment. You will be putting your equipment investment at risk by putting it into a fairly inhospitable working environment. There is also no guarantee that in the event of a fire, your drive will be totally protected, such as in a 1500 degrees F fire lasting longer than 15 minutes .

The reward is a drive that is potentially fireproof and waterproof   a drive that can withstand almost anything you can throw at it. You’ll have a safe place to keep your important files that you should never have to touch, and one that is always connected.