Faraday Cage

[Steve]

Bubble wrap is cheap and versatile. I also use metal filing cabinets inside a metal shipping container, the wooden floor provides some insulation between the two.

[Skvez]

You don't need anything fancy, wrapping your electronics in a plastic bag should suffice. You just want to ensure that none of the conducting bits of the electronics touch the metal case/box/tin.

If your electronics themselves are in a plastic case (such as most HDDs) you don't even need to bag them.

Quote:so I guess I have a fully functional faraday cage big enough for plenty of portable hard disks; usb flash drives ...

I was wondering though what you were going to do with a HDD that survived if you don't have a PC in a farady cage to read it?

[Devonian]

I'm not a believer than following an EMP that the world would suddenly stop to function, yes I may not have a PC immediately after an EMP Strike, but I do believe that I would be able to get one even if it wasn't for 12 or 18 months....

I'm pretty certain that the likes of HP; Dell; Lenovo; Microsoft; IBM; etc all have secure facilities where they store their own chips and information needed. Yes it would take time to rebuild production lines and yes governments and some others would be treated as priority customers, but there would be computers again.

Plus who is to say that any EMP strike would have a global effect? It could be localised.

But the important thing is that my information/data would be safe, and this also includes data I need to run my business as well.

So whilst yes I believe the hardware could (eventually) be replaced, my information and could not be so easily replaced.

But........

......as per the following post, I have an old laptop which I keep in an Anti Static ESD Shielding Metal Loc-Top Bag, which I hope will be sufficient to also protect it from an EMP and will therefore provide me with instant computing power

http://forum.survivaluk.net/showthread.p...2#pid81822

Ultimately, although we use the term prepping, I think ALL businesses also prep, but they refer to it as a 'Business Continuity Plan', so even if the worst happened (WRT an EMP), it would not be the end of the world. You can also be pretty sure that major utilities and government departments will also have plans in place in this regard. In fact the UK Government has identified 'Space Weather' as a major threat that needs to be planned for:

http://forum.survivaluk.net/showthread.p...ce+weather

[bigpaul]

I always thought if you had an EMP not only would it take out your car electronics and fry the battery I also thought it would blow every transformer in the power grid, at least in that area if not the whole system.. even if they had the manpower to get it all fixed it would take a long long time and you can bet your last quid that ordinary houses will be the last ones reconnected.

[Devonian]

Well apparently we were close to it last year......

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nasa-world-alm...ml#T4oa9s6

---

(25 July 2014, 16:23)bigpaul Wrote: I always thought if you had an EMP not only would it take out your car electronics and fry the battery I also thought it would blow every transformer in the power grid, at least in that area if not the whole system.. even if they had the manpower to get it all fixed it would take a long long time and you can bet your last quid that ordinary houses will be the last ones reconnected.

The fact is nobody knows for certain as it has never happened.....

But even the car thing, if you look back to what Top Gear did, they seemed to prove that the car actually acted as a Faraday Cage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve6XGKZxYxA

So could steel framed, steel clad buildings act in the same way????

[bigpaul]

(25 July 2014, 16:58)Devonian Wrote: Well apparently we were close to it last year......

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nasa-world-alm...ml#T4oa9s6

---

The fact is nobody knows for certain as it has never happened.....

BP: look like another is predicted within a decade so maybe we'll find out eventually!!

So could steel framed, steel clad buildings act in the same way????

BP: maybe, but only if you've got one going spare!!!

[NorthernRaider]

Devonian
"The fact is nobody knows for certain as it has never happened....."

Erm Yes it has, look up the Carrington Event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
http://www.infowars.com/after-several-ne...dark-ages/

Theres even a PA movie about the subject
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247254/

[Devonian]

(25 July 2014, 21:57)NorthernRaider Wrote: Devonian
"The fact is nobody knows for certain as it has never happened....."

Erm Yes it has, look up the Carrington Event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859
http://www.infowars.com/after-several-ne...dark-ages/

Theres even a PA movie about the subject
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2247254/

Sorry, should have been more specific, what I meant was it has never happened during the age of semi-conductor or PC.

And I'm not saying it won't have an impact, its just we don't really know for certain how far reaching that impact will be. Many people say that all vehicles, all computers, all power stations, anything connected to a power cable or anything with a circuit board will be fried and useless regardless of where you are in the world - but will that really be the case??

For example your wiki article makes reference to "Telegraph systems all over Europe and North America failed, in some cases giving telegraph operators electric shocks." but it doesn't say if systems in India, Australia China etc where also affected........ So was this because they didn't have such systems; or it simply wasn't reported in the article; or was it because they were physically shielded on the other side of the planet??

[Steve]

Electronics are very cheap now and incredibly useful, so it makes sense to stash some away. I have built an "office" inside a metal shipping container, inside which is a metal fire-safe and eight metal filing cabinets. Cached are a few PC's, 10 walkie-talkie radios, some CB sets, FM radios, a TV, digital storage scope, analogue scope, ESR meter, logic probes, and a whole heap of components.

[bigpaul]

I don't have the experience, knowledge or even storage space to store a load of electronic gear, which is why I am preparing for a world without power.