Prepper Disk • Hacker News Board

Re: Prepper Disk

#21

Post by j4mie » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:08 AM UTC

IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency"

Re: Prepper Disk

#22

Post by literalAardvark » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:15 AM UTC

alangibson wrote: post #20

The "AI Chatbot" model feels a bit like an STC from 40K.

Pretty much. It would also explain why STC's can't be recreated or extended with blueprints, though it wouldn't do much to explain why they can't be copied.

Re: Prepper Disk

#23

Post by userbinator » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:15 AM UTC

panki27 wrote: post #19

170€ for a "Raspberry Pi 4B with 2GB of RAM and a 512GB premium SD memory card". Any bets how long that SD card is gonna last?

A few years, if recent SSD retention experiments are any indication.

Re: Prepper Disk

#24

Post by userbinator » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:21 AM UTC

theodric wrote: post #4

I would be concerned about long-term data viability on an SSD that would likely be mothballed until SHTF, especially in light of the recent update released by HTWingNut ( https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/unpowered... + https://youtu.be/rx3Y5x6uzKQ )

Interesting how the comments on that article have a few "but I have much older SSDs which I stored unpowered fr over a decade and they're fine"... which is exactly what you'd expect of the MLC or even SLC flash that was common back then.

Re: Prepper Disk

#25

Post by 7952 » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:21 AM UTC

IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

I wonder if such a device could be a good counterpoint to cloud services in a business environment. Just as a reaction to the difficulty and cost of compliance when data is online.

Re: Prepper Disk

#26

Post by rlupi » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:22 AM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #6

I think I’d rather have as much of this information as possible in a laminated, ring-bound book with the holes in the pages reinforced. Also the content could be tightly edited and laid out to maximize the amount of information in the book. Of course that would actually be a lot of work to both write and manufacture, so better to just get something that will be useless the first time it gets wet or power runs out.

Do you mean an encyclopedia? I bet there are tons of physical encyclopedias on sale on Ebay.

Re: Prepper Disk

#27

Post by mattlondon » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:26 AM UTC

I wonder how much useful info you could cram onto a 1.44mb floppy disk in just ascii files?

Perhaps markdown with a basic TUI reader with hyperlinks?

I guess the weakest link then would be finding a computer with a working floppy drive, but it is a fun thought experiment.

Re: Prepper Disk

#28

Post by xattt » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:30 AM UTC

mattlondon wrote: post #27

I wonder how much useful info you could cram onto a 1.44mb floppy disk in just ascii files? Perhaps markdown with a basic TUI reader with hyperlinks? I guess the weakest link then would be finding a computer with a working floppy drive, but it is a fun thought experiment.

It’s tempting to assume that older technology is more reliable technology. Right now, that argument is being made for good reason to keep AM receivers in cars.

Floppy discs are older, but are still complicated beasts. It’s not like you would be able to repair a broken unit with basic tools.

Hard drives or whatever storage tech you can think of are similar, and you should use what is at hand. I would imagine that a flash drive, or an external SSD, remains more appropriate given the absence of mechanical parts.

At the end of the day, information is information, and you’re better off transcribing it onto paper for true 100% reliability.

Re: Prepper Disk

#29

Post by xattt » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:35 AM UTC

rlupi wrote: post #26

nkrisc wrote: post #6

I think I’d rather have as much of this information as possible in a laminated, ring-bound book with the holes in the pages reinforced. Also the content could be tightly edited and laid out to maximize the amount of information in the book. Of course that would actually be a lot of work to both write and manufacture, so better to just get something that will be useless the first time it gets wet or power runs out.

Do you mean an encyclopedia? I bet there are tons of physical encyclopedias on sale on Ebay.

Doesn’t have to be an encyclopedia. It would be a reference guide or an enchiridion.

Re: Prepper Disk

#30

Post by xnx » Fri, Apr 25, 2025, 11:38 AM UTC

IlikeKitties wrote: post #5

exegete wrote: post #2

It’s an interesting thought but I think there are better ways to do this than having some external disk. You could download all of WikiPedia, medical articles, etc to a laptop to the same effect. A survivalist book is probably even better since it won’t rely on power. The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud.

> The product offering of an AI chatbot for when the power goes out made me laugh out loud. To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant. Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk yo…

> in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices

Like a phone