On 11/12/24 6:35 AM, David T-G wrote:
> omething small like a Pi, or any old PC

Oh, I'm a huge fan (looking at 2 pi zero 2 w's next to my laptop with enough
jumper wires to make a pot of spaghetti jealous), and 2 pi 3b+ in the other
room. This is currently my "grab-n-go" safeguard. With 128G microSD cards,
they are legitimate storage contenders for data backup. That is 1/2 TB between
the 4 PIs. That's more than enough for core-data. And the zero 2w's are about
the size of a pack of gum.

Not to mention the wireless on the zero 2w is bullet-proof and the 3B+ wired
are plenty fast. (not to mention they are just a lot of fun to program to
control anything under the sun via GPIO, I2C or SPI, sensors, oled displays,
IMUs, A2D, D2A chips, timers, opamps, etc..). I've got a 1/2 dozen picos as
well that are fun in their own right as bare-metal boards

Years ago we picked up several refurb Dell boxes with Core2Duo E8600s and dual
NICs (odd, but interesting). All boxes were between $69 and $99, 4G-8G RAM
(with Win10 Pro installed). (time permitting in a crisis, these just get
unplugged and thrown through a window)

One thing is for certain, there is literally nothing salvageable after a fire.
Even if not destroyed by flame, the thick smoke residue that coats every
surface inside and outside destroys everything (and that's before the 2M
gallons of water courtesy of the valiant fire fighters).


--
David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.