[PLUG-TALK] Archival Storage of Digital Data

[Russell Senior]

>>>>> "Rich" == Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> writes:

Rich>    Over the past 30-40 years we've had paper tape, 80-column
Rich> Hollerith cards, 1/2" 9-track open reel magnetic tape, 8" 5.25"
Rich> 3.5" floppy disks, WORM disks, Cauzin paper strips, IOMEGA ZIP
Rich> drives, cdrom, dvd, USB flash memory, and probably many more
Rich> I've not mentioned. What's happened to all the data on the ones
Rich> that are no longer in use? We've seen several calls on the PLUG
Rich> mail list for 1/2" 9-track tape drives, and I'm sure others have
Rich> hunted for the physical resource to read old data.

BTW, if anyone has a need to read 9-track, let me know.  I am
currently embued with 9-track capability.  At least I think I am.

Rich>    Seems to me that regardless of the format of the data, the
Rich> physical medium on which it's stored needs equal or greater
Rich> attention. It is well accepted by those who know and care that
Rich> paper records are the only proven long-term archival storage
Rich> medium.

Rich>    I'm sure that some of you have thought deep thoughts about
Rich> this issue and probably have (or are) working on solutions. I'm
Rich> curious to learn what progress we've made in this important
Rich> aspect of the information age. After all, we have records from
Rich> the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. But, in 100 years will
Rich> there be any existing record of the Information Age?

Two solutions: keep copying it onto new media as the new media
appears.  I still have data from 20 years ago using this approach.
Data density keeps growing.  So far, fast enough to outpace the
collection of new data (at least for me).  Second solution, put it on
the web, then www.archive.org will keep it forever!


-- 
Russell Senior         ``I have nine fingers; you have ten.''
seniorr at aracnet.com