data

Peter upgraded his iPhone to the latest version of iOS 12, and ever since then, his text messages haven't been sending right away. Leo says the first thing to do is call his carrier. There are two ways messages get sent on an iPhone, however. It's either being sent with iMessage which uses his data, or as an SMS. He's only having this problem with the built-in Messages app, and it's with everyone. Leo thinks it has to do with his wireless carrier.

Mike wants to know what he needs to use his iPad on Wi-Fi. Leo says that any iPad will work on Wi-Fi. If he has LTE, however, he could use it anywhere. But for Wi-Fi, a regular iPad will work just fine. Since Mike is traveling internationally, Leo recommends also getting a MiFi card, which he can put a local SIM in for Wi-Fi. But since Mike is in the US Virgin Islands, international data roaming won't be an issue. Leo recommends getting an AT&T carrier version of the iPad. Leo likes the iPad Mini for traveling.

Paul wonders if it would be possible to build a hard drive that could hold all the information available in the world. Leo says that currently, we have hard drives large enough to hold all the information in the Library of Congress. But we really don't know how much information we really have in the world. We do know that by 2025, there will be 163 ZetaBytes (a trillion gigabytes). We're creating data at a rate of 16 trillion GB a year. The largest hard drive out there is 8,000 GB. So probably not. But that's what we have the cloud and the internet for.

Carl's wife is going to the Philippines soon and he wants to know the best way to stay in touch internationally. Leo says that the real answer is WiFi. She'll be able to make calls or even video conference via Skype, Facebook, or WhatsApp. If she uses WiFi, it won't cost her anything. She should just make sure to turn off data roaming on her phone. She can also use Google Maps and preload map data so that she's not using data while getting around.

Steve is in the process of digitizing everything and backing it up. Now he needs to consider backup options. Leo says the first thing he should do is make sure his data is encrypted. Windows 10 Pro offers BitLocker, which uses full disk encryption that unencrypts when he logs into his Windows account. He should be careful not to lose his password or certificates. He should back those up and keep them in a safe place.

Paul is going to be traveling to Great Britain and wants to know how they can use data while out of the country. Is SkyRoam a good option? Leo says that SkyRoam is an interesting pay-as-you-go option when traveling. Google Fi is another, as is a MiFi card. Pay-as-you-go is nice because Paul would pay for only what he uses. He'd also want to be sure they support high speed data.

Jeff wants to do some spring cleaning by getting rid of some old computers, but is concerned about privacy and the data on the hard drives. Leo says that the easiest thing to do is to simply remove the hard drives. He could also use something like Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) to completely wipe the drive. It erases everything by writing zeros across the drive, and then erases it again. If he does that several times, he'll be safe from everyone save the NSA. Solid State Drives, however, can be easier to get data off of.

Jeff has an unlocked GSM phone which he uses via TracFone, but it doesn't get data near his home. Leo says that part of the issue could be that TracFone has a deal with carriers that would make tower availability limited.

Chris is worried about storing all his stuff in the cloud. If the cloud goes down, will he lose everything? Leo says that storing in the cloud is practical because we use multiple computers and as such, he'll need to have a central storage area for all of them to contribute to. But the downside is that if he loses access to the cloud, he'll lose access to the data. That's why having a local backup is so important.