certain amount of downtime, then by all means, back everything up! Introspect on your own behavior. For example, if you find yourself wanting to find some way to get two qubes to share the same storage space, then this is probably a sign that those two qubes shouldn’t be separate in the first place. Sharing storage with each other largely breaks down the secure wall between them, making the separation somewhat pointless. But you probably had a good reason for wanting to make them two separate qubes instead of one to begin with. What exactly was that reason? If it has to do with security, then why are you okay with them freely sharing data that could allow one to infect the other? If you’re sure sharing the data wouldn’t cause one to infect the other, then what’s the security rationale for keeping them separate? By critically examining your own thought process in this way, you can uncover inconsistencies and contradictions that allow you to better refine your system, resulting in a more logical organization that serves your needs better and better over time. Don’t assume that just because you can’t find a way to attack your system, an adversary wouldn’t be able to. When you’re thinking about whether it’s a good idea to combine different activities or data in a single qube, for example, you might think, “Well, I can’t really see how these pose a risk to each other.” The problem is that we often miss attack vectors that sophisticated adversaries spot and can use against us. After all, most people don’t think that using a conventional monolithic operating system is risky, when in reality their entire digital life can be taken down in one fell swoop. That’s why a good rule of thumb is: When in doubt, compartmentalize. But remember that compartmentalization — like everything else — can be taken to an extreme. The appropriate amount depends on your temperament, time, patience, experience, risk tolerance, and expertise. In short, there can be such a thing as too much compartmentalization! You also have to be able to actually use your computer efficiently to do the things you need to do. For example, if you immediately try to jump into doing everything in disposables (www.qubes-os.org/doc/how…posables) and find yourself constantly losing working (e.g., because you forget to transfer it out before the disposable self-destructs), then that’s a big problem! Your extra self-imposed security measures are interfering with the very thing they’re designed to protect. At times like these, take a deep breath and remember that you’ve already reaped the vast majority of the security benefit simply by using Qubes OS in the first place and performing basic compartmentalization (e.g., no random web browsing in templates). Each further step of hardening and compartmentalization beyond that represents an incremental gain with diminishing marginal utility. Try not to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good!