There has to be someone in the family that will continue to preserve the information we have compiled through the years. I have data from the 1980's that started out on 5 1/4" diskettes up to current times and if I hadn't preserved them by upgrading their formats it would be gone for good. Some originally came from paper that I had to retype because PC's didn't exist them (1970's). In that sense paper was the best media for that time.
What about old 8mm and 16mm films? Try to get them converted these days. I have a bunch of them deteriorating. -----Original Message----- From: Paul Gray [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2011 3:16 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Speaking of pictures John, While I agree that digital technologies do become obsolete, I don't see paper as a particularly good alternative either. Paper deteriorates, inks fade. And, fire and flood is all too common. I attended a Dick Eastman presentation, and his advice was 'multiple copies, multiple media types, multiple locations. That is the only way to protect yourself from the failure of any one backup. Digital media do become obsolete, absolutely. One needs to periodically copy data from old media to new media, one to keep up with technology and simply to ensure that the original media is still readable. And, even new hard drives, DVD's, USB sticks, and whatever is coming in the future will fail. Hence, multiple copies. I keep data on my hard drive, backup to USB and DVD held at my home frequently, use Dropbox for on-line backup, and periodically take DVD backups to friends and family that live far away. Certainly, paper can be one of those multiple backups, but I'm not sure it's the most secure. Paul 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
