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Eliminating The Need To Carry Paper Documentaion

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Barry-Sue

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Eliminating The Need To Carry Paper Documentaion
« on: May 08, 2017, 03:18:10 pm »
We have two large binders with all of our PC manuals/documentation that we carry with us.  In order to free up some space and eliminate some weight I decided to download all manuals/documentation to a jump drive as well as my laptop.  I found most manuals/documents on this website https://www.manualslib.com.  There were a few things that I could not find online so I scanned them in.  I now do not have to carry those two bulky binders. 

Barry
Barry and Sue 
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2 Frazzled

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Re: Eliminating The Need To Carry Paper Documentaion
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2017, 06:21:43 am »
Barry, I recommend you back that up to a flash drive or external hard drive that you can store in a fire proof and water proof safe. We also have the electronic copies but still carry the binders. We might eventually ditch the paper but we did have a huge scare when our laptops were stored in cloth computer cases on the floor of a cabinet, we had water incursion (early on in the leak issue process), the cases sucked up the water and soaked the computers for an unknown amount of time and BOTH laptops gave us the blue screen of death. We were able to open them up and dry them in the sun for a day and were then able to restart them without loss of data but it was a scary time. It was also while we were still working and all the payroll and company data was on there... slightly stressful. Our computers are no longer stored on the floor.

The problem with paperless is the inability to view it if you don't have a functioning computer or nearby access to one. This would be more of an issue for boondockers as you could probably find a computer to borrow in a campground.

We have our family photos, music dvd's and MP3s, and general legal documents stored on the external drive or flash drives. We hope to add movies to that but for now, they are still on disc and we haul multiple zipped cases of them. We all have e-readers so we download our reading material and carry that along to reduce the number of books on board. We had Phoenix connect an HDMI cord to the back of the TV and run it into the front cabinet so we could access it and stream video from Amazon or show movies and pictures straight from the computer or our Kindle Fire. We considered an electronic picture frame but haven't done that yet.

As a side comment to e-readers, there are many free books to download both from Amazon and from Project Guttenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/    Amazon has a reading app you can put on phone or computer and Guttenberg downloads in different formats. John is a volunteer proofreader for Project Guttenberg. It is something he can do from anywhere we have signal. If you aren't familiar with them, check it out! A lot of the classics are there for you to read. If they don't pass another law blocking the expiration of copyrights (lobby against it, please), then thousands more titles will be opened up in 2019. They'll need a ton of volunteer proofreaders then if anyone is looking for a hobby and loves to read.

Also check your public library for electronic downloads. Ours has music, videos, books, audiobooks and magazines - all free to use and many free to keep. The amount of "paper" we carry electronically would overflow our rig but can be tucked in the palm of your hand... and stored in a little fireproof safe.





John, Holly, and sometimes Chloe.
Travel Blog: Spiritofthewoods.net

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Barry-Sue

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Re: Eliminating The Need To Carry Paper Documentaion
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2017, 07:59:15 am »
John and Holly

Yes thanks, we have our documents stored in multiple locations.  We carry the laptop and jumpdrive, but also have it on a desktop, a backup external hard drive, and a cd rom.  Family members have access to it so if we are not able to access it from where we are they can read it for us.  Might be overkill but I've been working in the computer world since I was in the Air Force since 1965 (before laptops were even a dream). 

Good point about not storing your electronics in places that "might" see unexpected water.  Ours are always in cases and off the floor.
Barry and Sue 
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Ron Dittmer

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Re: Eliminating The Need To Carry Paper Documentaion
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2017, 09:10:38 am »
I agree that all the paper documentation is difficult to deal with on a trip.  Given that I like "paper" better than reading a screen for such things, I separated the paperwork into two groups.  The stuff that won't help while on a trip is organized in a 3 ring binder and stays at home.  For the bring-along stuff, I found a nice zippered 3-ring binder.  It's about 1-1/2" thick, nicely sealed and well protected.  It can be tossed around, dropped on the floor and it stays together.
Ron (& Irene) Dittmer