Prepper Disk - Off grid mega compendium of preloaded prepper materials

[majorhavoc]

Prepper Disk - $200.

It's completely self-contained and creates its own hotspot so up to 20 devices can connect and access content at the same time. Can also be purchased with an Anker USB power bank and Farraday bag.

What thinks the collective?  I know in theory this could be done less expensively as a DIY project.  But I've known that for a while, and still haven't devoted the time, energy and funds to learn exactly how to do it.  Much less followed through and actually done it.  So I'm thinking a turnkey solution like this might be worth the premium over a DIY alternative.  

I learned about it from Urban Prepper's overview/initial review.  This seems like a very impressive product.  Tell me what I'm missing here. 

[Z.O.R.G.]

Depends on the content, I guess.  You can always save online content to a thumb drive and access it that way.  You can also get a bigger hard drive than offered that plugs directly into a router, and it allows you to share your files directly from it for about the same cost and little work.

It also depends on how much sharing you want to do as well.  in a true $HTF situation where I'm bugging in and hunkering down, I'm turning everything Wi-Fi off.  Due to its limited range, it's pretty easy to detect if one is nearby and zero in on the source.  If everyone has power, it's no big deal. If only a few do, it literally broadcasts that you're one that has it.

[wolf_from_wv]

Depends on the content, I guess.  You can always save online content to a thumb drive and access it that way.  You can also get a bigger hard drive than offered that plugs directly into a router, and it allows you to share your files directly from it for about the same cost and little work.

It also depends on how much sharing you want to do as well.  in a true $HTF situation where I'm bugging in and hunkering down, I'm turning everything Wi-Fi off.  Due to its limited range, it's pretty easy to detect if one is nearby and zero in on the source.  If everyone has power, it's no big deal. If only a few do, it literally broadcasts that you're one that has it.

Then, you can make a low dropout power supply, and run the router from an automotive battery with solar cell.  That would be better if everyone has power or at a gathering or trading post or maybe if you were running the post-apocalyptic library and other people had electronics.

[Moab]

Seems to me I just saw an article for a freeware server type software that allowed you to share files with everyone in your household. It's a big topic these days as folks are getting tired of paying for the cloud and lack of complete security. I've seen several solutions or alternatives to cloud backups recently. Couldn't you easily do this with the files shared from your laptop or phone? I have not set anything up like this. But certainly considered it. 

I have 11gb of survival/prepping files. On my phone, laptop, external laptop and phone hard drives as well as in Google Drive. It seems like sharing from your phone or laptop locally wouldn't be that hard. I agree doing it wirelessly might not be the best method in a PAW or something. 

I have a USB c hardrive for my phone that plugs right in. It's 512gb and cost $50(?). And similar but larger 2tb for my laptop. Passing that around seems alot cheaper and more secure. 

Sometimes I think guys think a PAW is going to be a Renfaire. And your going to be able to charge passersby a fee for accessing their information cache wirelessly. Lol. This seems like an expensive solution in search of a problem that has no concerns about security. But I'm not a tech professional. 

[wolf_from_wv]

Sometimes I think guys think a PAW is going to be a Renfaire. And your going to be able to charge passersby a fee for accessing their information cache wirelessly. Lol. This seems like an expensive solution in search of a problem that has no concerns about security. But I'm not a tech professional.

Then, you have to have a backup of all the stuff on the drive.  Otherwise, someone can just delete or corrupt everything.

[eugenenine]

Seems to me I just saw an article for a freeware server type software that allowed you to share files with everyone in your household. It's a big topic these days as folks are getting tired of paying for the cloud and lack of complete security. I've seen several solutions or alternatives to cloud backups recently. Couldn't you easily do this with the files shared from your laptop or phone? I have not set anything up like this. But certainly considered it.

Nextcloud is a popular one. I've been running it for years, and owncloud before the fork

[Moab]

Sometimes I think guys think a PAW is going to be a Renfaire. And your going to be able to charge passersby a fee for accessing their information cache wirelessly. Lol. This seems like an expensive solution in search of a problem that has no concerns about security. But I'm not a tech professional.

Then, you have to have a backup of all the stuff on the drive.  Otherwise, someone can just delete or corrupt everything.

Yes. Agreed. I don't think I'd be in the information business to begin with. But wireless is full with problems. You'd have to figure out some form of security. Most likely not wireless at all. Maybe they supply the thumb drive. You do the transfer for them. And hand the thumb drive back. Or phone or laptop or whatever. I wouldn't hand my hard drive to anyone. But I wouldn't want to leave any wireless system open for anyone either. 

Like I said, I think this is a solution in need of a problem. 

[eugenenine]

Setup a separate guest (wifi) network

[gordonshumway]

Simple and a heck of a lot easier than trying to build myself. I know folks who might enjoy that sort of thing but this is one stop shop. 

I am usually pretty skeptical of gadgets but was nudged along seeing a couple people I respect and follow mention it namely casual peppers and urban prepping on YouTube. it's not rocket science but it does what it does well.

[Moab]

Simple and a heck of a lot easier than trying to build myself. I know folks who might enjoy that sort of thing but this is one stop shop.

I am usually pretty skeptical of gadgets but was nudged along seeing a couple people I respect and follow mention it namely casual peppers and urban prepping on YouTube. it's not rocket science but it does what it does well.

There is definitely utility in being able to download all the prepper files in one download. Or in this case (and many others in the past like CDs off eBay) buy the group outright. But I don't see the utility in buying hard drive and costly ability to share it. I'm just not sure that's necessary. Or I should say worth the added expense. 

Having sifted thruany GB of this type of data. It's far more valuable to have it effectively vetted and catalogued. It's a ton of information spanning a wide array of subjects. Downloading it off the internet is only half the battle. Like I mention above, I have downloaded individual files (which is an endless process I wish on no one - you spend a lifetime downloading individual pepper files), and I have downloaded several groups in single downloads - some of which are catalogued into folders. 

It really needs to be encyclopedia'd into a file structure that makes sense. And vetted by quality of information. And then set into some sort of agenda that prioritizes best to worst information source for that type of info. Like Greys Anatomy is very different from the Special Forces First Aid doc. No matter what size your collection is it's a vast amount of data that can not be easily sifted thru or digested. 

At some point someone will apply this data set to an AI agent loaded to a laptop or phone. Then you will have something truly usable. 

As this data stands it's basically a library of pepper data without even a Dewey decimal system like at the old school library. It's a pile of docs that would take separate committed of people to analyze and develop any one plan from. Like how are we going to build a community water treatment system etc. 

I don't recall if this data set is vetted or catalogued. But just being able to share it isn't really that great of an added benefit.