data storage

[wiltrot]

Company Plans Data Storage Dump on the Moon
Dr. Strangelove would love this one. Companies like Iron Mountain now store your backup data in old mine shafts, but now a California company will take that one giant step further. That's right—soon you'll be able to store backups on the moon. Talk about a mine-shaft gap! By early next year, it plans to have a working network on the moon—which begs the question: If the earth explodes, do you really need your data? Read all about this out-of-this-world-idea (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1200791,00.asp).

[pave_spectre]

Thats got to be expensive. What a waste of time. Trying to use september 11 as a justification is completely nonsensical.

[Budfred]

Well I know that if a small asteroid hits the earth and wipes out the human race, I am going to be really glad I stored my important files on the moon. Why I could miss out on one of my rebate offers if that copy of the paperwork isn't on the moon!!:eek: :eek: :p

I wonder if the people that subscribe to this would be interested in "natural viagra" and a few other products I get emails about each day???:D :D

[pave_spectre]

I think they should just develop a technology that allows the earths magnetic field to be locally adapted as a magnetic storage medium.

[Budfred]

If they did that, it would get disrupted when the asteroid wiped out all human life and we would lose all that precious data...:eek: :D

[pave_spectre]

Disrupting the earths magnetism I think would depend on the metallic content of the asteroid and it would likely be localised to the impact zone rather than global.

Imagine the security hassle. What sort of encryption could you get on a planetary magnetic field?

[Budfred]

Actually the earth's magnetic field is in flux all the time anyway and apparently switches from a North-South orientation to an East-West orientation every few millenia, I would say that makes it a terribly unstable storage media. :D

Also, while the metallic content of the asteroid would make some difference, the angle of the hit and the size of the asteroid would be more significant. Speculation is that our current planetary configuration was determined when an asteroid literally bonded with the earth and turned the surface into a molten mass for a few millenia. This apparently disrupted magnetic fields and just about anything else you care to think about. Of course that was a few years ago, but we may be due for another one any day now. No, I really think the moon is the safest bet, or better yet - Mars!!:D :D

[pave_spectre]

Mars might be a bit problematic, especially if hardware needed servicing, what with the difference between the orbits of earth and mars. Remote communication might also pose a problem if the planets are on opposite sides of the sun.

[Budfred]

But it would be SECURE!!:D :D :p

[jeeza]

Yes, it would be secure to the extent that nobody who doesn't make a trip to the moon would have access to it.
Even so, why would it be more secure than it would be on earth ? If it's stored, that is for purposes of being accessed sooner or later, and nobody can guarantee that the wrong persons will not access it, whether it is on the moon or on earth.

Furthermore, on the webpage it says :
Laurie is most excited about servers storing data on the moon, though. "The moon is a pretty safe place to store your data," he says. "September 11 caused people to think about what data backup really means, and there is also always the threat of a natural disaster here on earth, such as a small asteroid hitting the planet."
If a small asteroid, or even a big one as sometimes happens, can hit our planet, then I can't see why it couldn't do the same with the moon.
And of course they do. The destructive potential of such an asteroid hitting the moon is even much higher because the moon lacks the protective atmospheric layer which will cause most asteroids to burn up before they reach the ground.
Asteroids hitting the moon should do so without losing any speed or energy. The impact would be DEVASTATING.

[wiltrot]

Good point. You better inform Laurie of this potential risk.

[Budfred]

Jeeza,

Asteroids would not burn up in the earth's atmosphere... If they would, they would be meteorites, not asteroids. An asteroid would cause massive destruction at least and would likely lead to the annihilation of most life on the planet if it was big enough. Also, an asteroid slamming into the moon might well hurtle the moon into the earth, in which case say "bye bye".....

[jeeza]

Originally posted by Budfred
Jeeza,

Asteroids would not burn up in the earth's atmosphere... If they would, they would be meteorites, not asteroids. An asteroid would cause massive destruction at least and would likely lead to the annihilation of most life on the planet if it was big enough. Also, an asteroid slamming into the moon might well hurtle the moon into the earth, in which case say "bye bye".....
You are right, asteroids don't burn up, it's meteorites which do (small ones ; the big ones don't burn up either, they might break up into smaller pieces). Whether they hit the earth or the moon, the result is enormous destruction. On the moon there is no atmosphere to slow them down, so they hit the groundlevel with full force.
In any case it seems to me that that lunar storage isn't so safe after all.

[pave_spectre]

If asteroids dont break up it clearly must have being an error during the implementation phase where heat-input was not properly coded to generate a breaking-up output. This clearly requires some kind of patch that will allow for automatic detection of heat levels that can be referenced to a table or list and a suitable level of break-up performed.

[Budfred]

pave_spectre,

That was an incredibly clear statement... However, I think you may have meant it for the Nothing thread????:D

Actually, asteroids might well breakup and they will certainly burn, they just won't burn enough to get them down to meteorite sizes. Technically, they would be meteorites themselves, but since a sizable one would probably wipe out any potential witnesses to debate their designation, they can call themselves whatever they would like....:D

And, yes, the moon wouldn't really be any safer than an earth based storage system, probably less. For it to be functional, it would have to be accessible. If it is accessible, it would be crackable.....

[pave_spectre]

My last post was probably more appropriate for the nothing thread but no-ones mentioned asteroids there yet and I couldnt think of a suitable way to introduce the topic.

Seriously, I agree with the security issue regarding being able to store and access data across some kind of maybe satellite based wireless communication link.
Given what I have heard about the difficulty in securing a standard wireless network properly, short of trying a guarded lunar cable link someone would crack it eventually.

[jeeza]

Originally posted by Budfred
Actually, asteroids might well breakup and they will certainly burn, they just won't burn enough to get them down to meteorite sizes.
Burn they may, but burn up whey won't, as I said earlier. The crater left at Tunguska in Siberia is one famous example of an asteroid or comet hitting the earth.

And, yes, the moon wouldn't really be any safer than an earth based storage system, probably less. For it to be functional, it would have to be accessible. If it is accessible, it would be crackable.....
I agree completely... if there is no absolutely secure, absolutely uncrackable system on earth, why on earth would there be on the moon ?

[jeeza]

No, I really think the moon is the safest bet, or better yet - Mars!!:D :D
Why not a person's memory ?
It seems human memory is limitless. The only difficulty is remembering all the data.
I have no idea how it could be done, even by someone who has "perfect" memory, but we don't know all about human memory yet.

[Budfred]

Human memory is much more fragile than any number of existing and possible digital forms. However, the fragility of the medium isn't so much the problem for security as access is and, if it is accessible, it cannot be entirely secure. That said, a well encrypted file on a CD is likely to be as secure as would be needed for most purposes.....