Hello Wayne, We have considered the problem of 100 year old records availability and we think that we have found a usable solution. Of course, it is not cheap so it not available for smaller sites but it seems like it would work fairly well. Our document imaging system for medical records uses 2.6GB 5.25" WORM cartridges in an 800 cartridge jukebox. Our system grows at the rate about ~2GB of documents every 24 hours and we move cartridges offline regularly. We looked at 9.1GB jukeboxes until we realized that most of the companies building jukeboxes have switched to building smaller capacity units. The 800 Cartridge 2.6GB unit is now only a 200 cartridge 9.1GB unit. To migrate all of our data would require as many units for older storage as for new storage. One of the possible solutions that we have been exploring is some new technology from Kodak.
Kodak builds a series of microfilm machines that use optically scanable media with a database index. The process works as follows, data flows through your system until it reaches the networked microfilm machine which photographs the data unto the microfilm. The machine creates the database index for the information photographed and can automatically retrieve the microfilm cartridge and the frame requested. When the jukebox has mounted the cartridge and has spooled the analog microfilm to the requested frame, then the jukebox scans the frame into digital data again. Several nice features about this technology is that it is human-readable at all times and that archival grade microfilm stored under the right conditions can last the 100 years required. At the same time as the jukebox is creating the microfilm, it can photograph the same image into two different cartridges without loss of speed. Disaster recovery is much easier since you can rescan all of the data that you had microfilmed back into your production systems, howbeit slowly. For us it will decrease the amount of production storage that we have to buy since we will not have to migrate data onto the new optical systems. Please note that we don't have this system installed yet, we are closely examining it for purchase. It might be a pack of lies, but it the only technology that I have found that even has a chance of lasting the 100 years needed. Todd Smith -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Wilson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Much more serious than re-encrypting every so often is moving entire formatted information systems from one technology to another. Anyone still read WANG 8" Floppy WP documents? Even assuming you could find which disk the specific information in on, it's costly. Really, since we have just started the move to putting records on line, the entire issue of how accessable those will be in 100 years has been completely hand waved away. Yes, I know there are technical means, but will there be money and staff to do it? Paper archives, on the other hand, when they havn't been burned or submerged or recycled, usually are fairly easy to locate and read a record in, but more to the point, the technology is still understood and readily available.
