CDs vs. floppies and hard drive for data storage

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That is strange. I posted this question a few days ago, but could not find it today, but when I started a new thread, the exact title appeared. So I’ll repeat the question.
I have been using floppies to hold financial date and need to update the files regularly.
I keep them off the hard drive for security reasons. I find if I try to use CD-RWs for that purpose, the files seem to become “read only’.
If I have to move them off the cd for editing, it adds to the work. Is there any way around this?

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I would not recommend either floppies or CD-RWs as the only media for important finacial data. Neither are reliable.

Are you storing them on removable media because you don’t want to leave confidential data on a PC whilst unattended or is this for off-site backup in case of flood/fire damage?

I suggest a two pronged appraoch that satisfies both problems. Firstly, encrypt your local HDD and use a sensible password. That will be sufficient to stop anyone reading the data in your absence.

Use a computer (either desktop or laptop) with an embedded TPM chip (trusted platform module) which will ensure that even if the HDD is stolen, it will not be readable on any other computer.

For off site backup, use an encrypted USB flash memory key – again with a sensible password.

Together, this will ensure that your data is as safe as you can make it.

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I second Terry’s suggestions.

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Thanks for the advice. How does one go about encrypting the HDD.
I still want to know if it is impossible to edit a file on a CD-RW.

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Thanks for the advice. How does one go about encrypting the HDD.
I still want to know if it is impossible to edit a file on a CD-RW.

I do not believe you can actually edit a file on the CD-RW media. I believe the following method is needed:
Insert the disc into your computer’s CD-ROM drive. Copy the files from the disc onto your hard drive. Edit your documents, save them to your hard drive, and then erase the CD-RW and burn the edited content to it.

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Thanks for the advice. How does one go about encrypting the HDD.

DriveSentry looks promising and has been highlighted in the Windows Secrets newsletter. At work we use CompuSec on our laptops and it works pretty good. There are others, you just have to poke around a bit.

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I still want to know if it is impossible to edit a file on a CD-RW.

Yes,but they’ll have a finite number of writes.

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