On Jan 5, 2009, at 5:40 PM, MIKO .. wrote:
> > On Jan 5, 2009, at 4:13 PM, Stanton Mitrany wrote: > >> How about storing our archival digital disks in a hermetically sealed >> container, flushed with nitrogen or carbon dioxide (easy to obtain, >> even from a flake of dry ice, dropped into the storage container just >> before sealing it)? That way, there should be little or no oxyge, and >> little or no oxidation of the burned pits, and therefore no >> degradation of the data. >> >> Just an idea . . . > > LOL. Hardly. flushing with nitrogen is a common technique for easily oxidized chemicals from aerospace components to food. When my wife and I did a winery tour this summer all the places were flushing the tasting bottles with nitrogen in between pours. In fact you can buy wine cabinets that have a nitrogen flush built in. (Neat little appellation...Rattlesnake Hills, near Yakima, Washington. We recommend the Bonair <http://www.bonairwine.com/> and Paradisios del Sol Wineries <http://www.paradisosdelsol.com/> good wines, friendly people.) This is actually an eminently sensible idea. A box like this <http://www.otterbox.com/waterproof-cases/otterbox-3510-foam/ > with a couple of silica gel packs and flushed with N2 every year or so would make an excellent archival storage container for both digital and analog film... > Perhaps, also, a hyperbaric chamber will help. Actually a hyperbaric chamber will increase the rate of degradation. Hyper == greater baric == pressure. A hypobaric chamber, or storing them under reduced pressure will also be a poor idea as that will lead to outgassing of the plastics used for the tape or disks. > And the storage > room should be lined with lead in case we get attacked with a > superstrong electromagnetic pulse (EMP)... :) any metal box that is grounded will form a faraday cage that mitigates the effects of an EMP. Pop a CD into a microwave sometime. That's what an EMP will do to one. All this said, what they want is that their great grandchildren be able to see great-grampa's baby pictures...not survive a nuclear war. -- Bruce Johnson University of Arizona College of Pharmacy Information Technology Group Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed Low End Mac's G3-5 List, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list?hl=en Low End Mac RSS feed at feed://lowendmac.com/feed.xml -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
