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We use a two-pronged strategy. For temporary archiving of data (up to 6 months we, like many, like the user-friendliness of the USB drives (200 GB is our current incarnation) and their speed of access for issues related to alternative processing strategies. For archival storage, we use the current incarnation of DVD (8.5 GB double-layer) disks. The capacity of these disks is equivalent to ~1 360 degree data set, plus processing files, from most beamlines. The one common feature of backup media is that they always change [reel tapes, TK50's, gigastore VCR tapes, 4 mm DAT's, 8 mm tapes, DLT's, are all media I have had the pleasure of enduring]. I still have nightmares about those VCR tapes, in our hands they were an effective means of permanently storing data with no hope of retrieval. Tom Hurley Indiana University -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Holton Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 12:15 PM To: Sergei Strelkov Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ccp4bb]: How do you store your datasets? *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** I use DVDs. - They still have ~5x lower price/GB than hard drives. - The media are stable (advertizing 100 years expected MTBF, as opposed to 3-5 years for hard drives and tapes) - DVD-R cannot be overwritten, so it is appropriate for archiving scientific data - DVDs are "portable" in that a lot of people have drives that can read them. Since I am running a national user facility, we need to play to the "lowest common demoninator" of what kind of read-back drives users might have at home. Blu-Ray sounds neat and all, but I don't own a Blu-Ray drive. Do you? I think it will be more like 5-10 years before DVD-ROM drives become as hard to find as CD-ROM drives are today. -James Sergei Strelkov wrote: > *** For details on how to be removed from this list visit the *** > *** CCP4 home page http://www.ccp4.ac.uk *** > > > Dear All, > > as a followup to my earlier posting, I would like to > ask opinions on the optimal ways to save and keep > the collected data. > > Tape is slow and cumbersome. Other options would be > (1) dedictated hard disks / RAID, and > (2) DVDs (which will probably be replaced by > BluRays or like within the next year or two). > > Best wishes, > Sergei. >
