[PLUG] long-term data storage

Mark Martin mmartin at u.washington.edu
Thu Feb 27 09:14:01 UTC 2003


I second what Rich said and just wanted to point out that there is an 
interesting article on this topic in the October 2002 "Technology Review".

On Thursday 27 February 2003 08:19, Rich Shepard wrote:
> On Wed, 26 Feb 2003, Carla Schroder wrote:
> > Is there any medium besides paper that you trust for long-term data
> > storage? Seems like looking beyond five years gets iffy. What about 10-30
> > years? Which still isn't that long, compared to books and magazines.
>
> Carla,
>
>   I am not an expert on the subject of archival permanence of data and
> records. But, everything I've read from those who are experts suggest that
> the answer to your question is, "no". We all know what happened to the 8"
> floppy disk (and the 5.25" one, too) and the early WORM drives. Not to
> mention the Cauzen strip reader and the 1/2" mag tapes on large, open
> reels.
>
>   More recently (within the past month) I have read that while
> commercially-burned cdroms may last quite a few years (if the readers are
> still available then), home-made ones don't. I don't think it's a
> delamination problem but the shallowness of the pits from the low power
> lasers used to burn them. And the re-writable disks are even worse.
>
>   There was a detailed examination of this issue in the last Technology
> Quarterly published by "The Eonomist". Among those who know there is great
> concern that the Smithsonian, Library of Congress and other archival
> institutions are making digital copies of irreplaceable documents then
> destroying the originals.
>
>   Paper, on the other hand, will last forever if kept dry and unburned. Go
> to your local landfill and you can find newspapers from 50 or more years
> ago that are still readable. And we have photographs from 150 years ago
> that show no signs of deterioration.
>
>   If it's _really_ important, print it on quality paper and file it away.
>
> Rich
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