I remember those 8" floppies as well as tape-based formats. Paper also has issues as well. It tends to fade over the years and is easier to destroy. If I had a choice between the two I'd take digital.
I used to received fax transmissions from a cemetery for burial information, but unfortunately I only had a thermal paper fax machine. I copied these to Xerox paper and was glad I did because the original thermal paper copies faded so badly within the first year I couldn't read them anymore. Regular copy paper will last much longer, but it also burns or can be destroyed much easier than electronic copies. I move too much so having to move many boxes of paper just wasn't economical anymore. I scanned my genealogy reference books too (marriage records) and threw out the books. I digitize everything only because it takes up a lot less space than all that paper. I wish I could keep all the paper copies, but nobody in my direct family is interested in genealogy and it would just end up in the garbage anyway. My distant lines have most of my digital copies so hopefully it will live on. Bill Boswell -----Original Message----- From: John Carter [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 2:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Speaking of pictures Unless you and your descendants continuously stay current with changes in digital storage technology, your digital data will eventually become inaccessible. Once upon a time, the 8" floppy disk was the commercial standard for digital storage and backup. Do you know anyone who has the equipment to read an 8" floppy disk? Or even a 5 1/4" floppy disk? Eco-friendly is fine (my recycle bin contains more than my garbage bin), but some of the family history I've collected is too valuable to entrust solely to a medium that is guaranteed to become obsolete - it's just not possible to re-interview someone who died 10 years ago. For that reason, I keep all paper originals. Every couple of years, I print appropriate multi-generation documents to have a human-readable copy of the data. (two family lines, 11 generations back in some places) John Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
