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graeme@datasecurityexpert.co.uk
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diskAshur PRO3 SSD 256-Bit - Top Security PIN Authenticated/Hardware Encrypted High-Capacity External SSDs/HDDs
- Details
- Category: Technical Product Reviews
Designed & Assembled In: UK | Website: www.istorage-uk.com | RRP: from £288 (HDD less)
| Simplicity | Value | Documentation |
| 5/5 | 3.5/5 | 5/5 |
| Functionality | Performance | Overall |
| 5/5 | 5/5 | 94% |
What Is It In Under 20 Words?
An external USB SSD/HDD drive with inbuilt encryption & authentication to protect data stored on it.
What Does This Solve?
Unlike USB sticks, secure or not this option offers far greater storage, and you could argue this is for more long-term storage since SSDs/HDDs tend to last longer than a USB stick.
These could be used for a sole backup, part of the 3-2-1 rule which is explained below or for long term archiving when access is seldomly needed.
Maintain three copies of your data. Two on-site, i.e. an external hardware encrypted drive like this, and a Network Attached Storage (could be hacked or encrypted by ransomware). Lastly, one off site copy which could be cloud or a hardware encrypted USB or external drive like this.
For some folk off-site cloud sync or SaaS backups like Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive is not an option. Either because they do not allow cloud data storage or their clients insist against it. Take a photographer, one I know personally who digitally photographs high value art for wealthy collections (museums or trust collections) or UHNWI. The photos are stored and shared somehow and, are needed for catalogues & insurance purposes.
Criminals or current/ex wife’s (or husbands) maybe interested in such photos since they tell them perhaps where the artwork is stored and its value. Some of these folk or entities maybe concerned on cyber security & privacy, and ask for storage not to be cloud based. This applies to the laptop/desktop and the backup method. Being such photos could be 10-100MB each an USB stick will not cut it and a 2-16TB external encrypted drive would definitely cut it.
Buying a property in 2025 is setting yourself up for failure and seems like a suicide mission to me!
- Details
- Category: Private Thoughts
Being last year was a very expensive year (i.e. a baby arriving in not standard circumstances) savings were low and the plan was/is to use the equity to fund a deposit, legal fees, stamp duty, moving costs and more.
In the end I accepted the lowest offer since the man was chain free, single and I thought it would go smoothly. How wrong this turned out to be!
Just before getting the offers in, we hunted for a place to buy just past the boundaries of London for the reasons of price, congestion and to be in a greener area. We agreed to buy a place for £465,000. This price is seriously cheap for a small three-bedroom house near London and a similar place near where we live now would be more like £600,000 or more.
Remember in 2025 the economy is poor, the jobs market is even worse and with stamp duty changes getting on the property ladder is harder than ever before. The stamp duty threshold used to be £425,000 and now it is £300,000. For a first-time buyer the stamp duty on a place valued at £350,000 is £2,500 and if you are not a first-time buyer it is £7,500.
Let’s look at the costs to buy/sell and later I will cover the monthly costs post purchase.
- £60 photography fee to estate agent number two
- £1099 mortgage & survey fee to lender
- £67.20 additional search fee to Thames Water
- £599 survey fee for purchase
- £360 to freeholder for filling out a LPE1 form
- £2,716.80 purchase legal fees inc. search pack
- £2,208.00 selling legal fees
- £13,2500 stamp duty tax on £465,000 purchase
Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink - observations of an outsider in The Philippines Region V
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- Category: Private Thoughts
Water is life yet many people in Region V and likely other regions in The Philippines do not have water at all or it turns on/off without warning or compensation. Back in the UK we take water for granted and if it fails or has bacteria or a parasite present it is big news with leaflets distributed and free large bottles of water dropped off at affected households till it is resolved. Water can be drunken straight from the tap – try convincing my wife this who is from Camarines Sur this!
In the West, water is there for hand washing, showering/bathing, flushing the toilet and using an electric washing machine. Water is heated also typically by a gas boiler or electric shower unit in the bathroom. It is taken for granted after paying the ever-increasing water & sewage bill. Water companies in the UK are private firms there for a profit and run a monopoly per area licensed by the state. Recently our water & sewage bill increased by 50% to close to 30,000 PHP per year. Far from perfect yes but the water is their 99%+ of the time and is not harmful.
Likely in Manila the facilities listed above are present in middle-class, upper-middle-class & upper-class condos as well as rarer houses. The water may not be drinkable directly but at least you can wash your dishes, shower, run a washing machine or purify the water to make it potable. This covers up to 15 million who live in the Manila area and what about the other 100 million? Many of them are poor and surviving on 7500 PHP a month for 5-6 days a week work.
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