Originally Posted By: ryck
I wonder if there is such a thing as failsafe data storage.

Absolute failsafe? Technically that is impossible but that also depends on what you mean by failsafe. If it means you have data that you wish to protect from harvesting by technicians at the repair shop I can make some suggestions...
  1. Turn on FileVault and keep all your personal information in your home folder. Even a skilled technician is unlikely to be able to access your data unless you give him/her your password. Of course if you forget the password or the FileVault gets damaged you are out of luck. With FileVault it would probably take someone with the resources of a tier one forensic computer lab such as the FBI, CIA, or NSA to get at your data.
  2. Keep your user account and all your data on an external RAID 1 or RAID 5 array with hot swappable drives. Then when you take your computer in for work leave the RAID at home and your computer does not have any of your data on it. If the failure is the RAID itself RAID 5 can rebuild the data on one of the damaged drives or you can swap the drives into another enclosure if that fails.
  3. Before taking your computer in for repair, back up the entire system to an external drive then erase the internal hard drive and install a pristine copy of your OS -- this might even fix the problem you are taking the computer in for. Of course this won't work if the computer has died before taking it in.
  4. If you have any reason to question the integrity of the shop, find another repair shop you trust or if you are under Applecare mail the computer to Apple for repair. They are bonded.

Last edited by joemikeb; 11/16/09 03:38 PM. Reason: clarification
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

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