Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Back up files with a printer and scanner
f0dder:
It's a cute thing, although the only real use for it I can think of would have been back in the days of crypto export restrictions - all the PGP code was printed, mailed to norway (I think?) where it was re-scanned and OCR'ed. Why? Because the export restrictions apparently didn't cover prints.
I wish Olly would have spent more time working on OllyDbg 2.0 instead :)
mwb1100:
Well, like I said, PaperBack is really just for curiosity sake or experimentation - not a real backup solution. I don't really think that ink-jet printers with office grade paper is a good backup solution. However, I still believe that the considerations for long-term data archiving present an interesting, non-trivial problem.
But, if anyone's interested, I'll lay down $100 that my inkjet printout of whatever text document will still be usable in 50 years while your copy of that same document on a CD will be a useless hunk of plastic. Unfortunately, that $100 will only be good for a soda pop. Oh, and I'll likely be a useless pile of ashes, so maybe we should just hang on to our $100.
Mark0:
Probably not very practical, but it's surely cool, IMHO.
I had thinked about something similar much time ago, so it's very nice to see it implemented and working.
Thanks Cpilot!
[deXter]:
Why not just store the data online? Assuming you've put your files on a reliable host that's likely to function for many years, it's no longer your headache to make sure that the data doesn't deteriorate.
Lashiec:
Storing data online? OH NOES! There are quite some caveats with that solution. Ars Technica made a review not long ago of backup hosts, and the big picture was not exactly comfortable. Besides, how can you assure the reliability of your host? Unless we talk of a BIG company, there's no guarantee they'll keep your data safe (and even in the case of the big company...).
Besides, really, who is going to keep data backups for 20 years (in the same medium I say)?. Now people comes out of every corner to prove me wrong ;D
A question that is bugging me. How can you restore data with the PaperBack alternative? :P
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