Safe for just documents
Posted by Hour-Definition189@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 31 comments
Hurricane prone here, so water may be an issue. I only have documents and a few jewelry pieces to stash. If the digital code ones get wet, I am afraid they may fail with water damage or age. Is a small key access one better in my situation or is digital still recommended?
CheapEngineering3000@reddit
I like my Winchester Safe.. was about $650 on sale at T.ractor s.upply I just keep my important documents on top shelf and I like to keep it on higher level but that’s also comes with risks too in case of a fire.. they make small fire safes that you can fit inside of a larger safe, which to me provides layers of insulation and more stuff they have to fight through before me or the cops get there.
Potential-Load9313@reddit
I used to work in a shop that had lots of expensive equipment stored in Pelican cases.
During hurricane Katrina, our entire building was flooded with several feet of water.
We lost a LOT of inventory.... but every. single. piece of gear that was in a Pelican case survived without any damage whatsoever.
Breakfast_Forklift@reddit
Unless they’ve changed it recently Pelican has an absolutely insane warranty (which includes the contents of the case if the case fails due to defect.
Only three things voided it. Bears, sharks, and children under 5.
Potential-Load9313@reddit
yeah, we were also a warranty center for Pelican
once or twice per year they would send us boxes of parts like latches, seals, hinges, etc.
they just said "if anyone comes in with a broken case, just give them the parts for free, no questions asked."
BatemansChainsaw@reddit
Get the Pelican 1430 with document holder and lid organizer. Here's one example of them. https://www.amazon.com/Pelican-1430-Office-Divider-Organizer/dp/B000QUGZ7Q?th=1
Many people I know (myself included) swear by it. My own has survived two flooding incidents and they're well worth it.
susanrez@reddit
This is the answer.
Cute-Consequence-184@reddit
Scan them with your phone into a printable format. Put in the cloud behind a password. Put them in a thumb drive with a password. Put the actual document in ziplock bags, they have 1.5 and 2 gallon sizes for papers.
passthesoapBuddy@reddit
This is a horrible idea. Firstly if electricity is down for an unknown amount of time, those you cant access any of it.
Never store important documents somewhere that could be compromised, this means especially the internet or cloud which also CAN NOT be accessed in a no power situation.
Cute-Consequence-184@reddit
But if a fire burns everything you own, or a tornado moves everything to the next county, YOU can access the documents later. In a power outage, you won't need to access your birth certificate or marriage certificate or copies of your other important documents. But later, after you are recovering from the disaster, you can have them printed.
Seriously, who would need a copy of their mortgage papers or birth certificate in a complete power outage is a mystery.
passthesoapBuddy@reddit
Apparently, you think prepping is for short-term disaster situations. Have you ever thought that you may need to prep for long-term events?
Cute-Consequence-184@reddit
Yes and you didn't read where I said "put them in large ziplock bags". Did you read about the thumb drive? No?
You were the one who said you can't access the Internet, so I replied to that
I don't believe there will ever be a long term world wide disaster. Not in my lifetime at least. Maybe a month or two if chaos at best.
And you have never heard of intranet? I guess not. It pre-dates the Internet and is usually very grid independent. UPS uses it as well as many corporations.
I grew up without the Internet but started learning in the late 80s. The Internet could die tomorrow and most people would survive.
passthesoapBuddy@reddit
Yes I absolutely read the whole post. You dont need to make an a** of yourself
passthesoapBuddy@reddit
Dont assume you know what i read.
FrontEndCore@reddit
Go with a key lock safe rated fire and waterproof. Digital locks can fail when moisture seeps into circuits, especially in humid or flood zones. Keep papers sealed in waterproof pouches inside for extra protection. Simplicity survives longer than tech in disaster conditions.
EmployerOwn5551@reddit
Waterproof bags as others have said are ideal. As someone who works professionally with survivors of domestic violence that need these documents to obtain safe housing, I tell all my clients, scam that shit and save it to an email.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
Scanned documents aren't good enough in all cases, though. You can't fill out an I-9 to obtain a job, for example, unless you have the physical documents in your hand. It's illegal for an employer to not see the document itself, since images can be altered.
C-57D@reddit
*scan
nakedonmygoat@reddit
I agree about the pelican case but if money is tight, ziplock bags will do. They come in sizes all the way up to ones big enough to store family portraits in.
I read about a woman in the New Orleans Lower Ninth who lost everything but her family Bible in Katrina. She had put the Bible in a ziplock.
Giant ziplocks have been part of my hurricane prep ever since reading that. They're easy to find online. I have mine for storing anything that cannot be replaced, such as family pictures, rare books, and things like that. Documents too, go into a ziplock. When it comes to government documents, at least in the US, merely having a picture of it isn't enough.
funnysasquatch@reddit
Don't over think it. Most digital safes will have a key you can use to unlock. Or worst case, they won't be that difficult for any locksmith to open.
mmaalex@reddit
A lot of digital safes can he opened with strong magnets, or breaking the keypad open and connecting a 9V batt to the wires that run through the door. The rest can be relatively easily cut open in a shop environment.
Only really high end stuff is secure, otherwise its just a deterrent.
funnysasquatch@reddit
No safe is secure if the bad guy has enough time and proper tools.
The purpose of these safes is two-fold:
1 - Reduce the chances of being destroyed by fire or flood.
2 - Keep documents safe from someone who might be snooping around and unable to sneak off with it.
Acceptable_Net_9545@reddit
I would be afraid of the same thing also....electronics done do especially well submerged or soaked especially if its seawater....why not vacuum pack docs....I have several "INCH" boxes....in your case having extra originals in other dafe locations makes sense....maybe good friends, family maybe even your work? you can make a container with pvc and the ends sealed/glued....
lilroguesnowchef@reddit
Laminate documents, water proof sleeves, then add to whatever bug out bag you have. I store moisture absorbed and such in and bear documents. I live in the pnw, so we most. Mold and fungus is a concern.
SonsOfValhallaGaming@reddit
I have the original birth certs, social security cards, marriage license for my wife and I, spare I.Ds and Drivers licenses, copies of bank statements, papers with emails and passwords, and so much more important things that are all organized into small envelopes, placed into water proof bags, and then placed in my safe.
My safe is a $60 walmart key safe, but it has earned it's cost. It has survived a house fire, a flood, and with a handy pet tracker chip inside of it, I was able to find it after a tornado threw it into a different county back in 2014. No joke. This thing has survived it all. And my digital safe? Internal battery fried and I had to pay to ship it to the manufacturer to fix the issue, which i didn't do because the estimated cost could've bought two more safes like it for shipping alone. I don't like digital safes. Old school works best for me but i'm sure thats just situational bias. Maybe someone on here has better?
Longjumping-Army-172@reddit
I think there are quite a few electronic safes with a key as backup. You've got the best of both worlds there.
Waterproofing the contents can be as simple as ziplock bags. Since it sounds like you're talking about a relatively small safe, you can simply store it inside something like a pelican case.
You might consider keeping backups in a few locations (though I'm torn about online options).
smsff2@reddit
Please note that a safe is designed to slow a burglar down until the police arrive. No safe provides infinite protection. You will still be able to open your safe even if the mechanism fails—it just takes some time.
Personally, I use an electronic lock and memorize the password. I couldn’t find a secure and easily accessible place to store the key.
Before I was able to memorize the password, I used a bit of simple cryptography. For example, let’s say the password for the safe is 123456, which I can’t easily memorize. Instead, I can remember a human-readable word like "preppers." In ASCII, the numerical value of “preppers” is 7072657070657273.
I add the two numbers:
123456 + 7072657070657273 = 7072657070780729
I only need the last six digits, so I write 780729 on the safe door itself. When I need to open the safe, I subtract the value of “preppers” from 780729 to get the original password.
ISeeReydar3@reddit
The concern isn't about theft. It's water.
smsff2@reddit
You are right.
I’ve lived through a flood. I have all my paperwork scanned and stored in the cloud, but I still don’t have waterproof containers for all the physical documents.
Spiley_spile@reddit
Are these documents you are able to reprint onto waterproof paper? Or to order new copies upgraded to waterprrof paper?
We have a lot of forms for disaster response deployments and use that. It's very handy. Lazer printers work best for this, by the way.
Way to think ahead!
b18bturbo@reddit
buy a pelican style case that's water proof. You can find cheaper alternatives at Harbor Freight. You can use a basic lock on them also. 1800 Weatherproof Protective Case, Small, Black
No_Albatross7213@reddit
Put the documents in a waterproof bag then put it in the safe.