"Malcolm Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I hear so many people complain of computer failures and corrupt > discs and even upgrading and sometime later finding their new > computer doesn't support retrieval of older software - but is that > the reality of computers in 2003?
Yes, it is. Expect media to deteriorate, expect new software to refuse to read old data formats, and to fail to run at all under new versions of operating systems. Think long term: store images using common industry standards such as JPEG, not proprietary application formats. Remember that those CDs are going to be physically unreadable at some time in the future (20 years? 10? 5?), and plan to copy the images on them to new media periodically. > Every upgrade I have made has made the system more stable and > reliable. You're probably using Microsoft systems, right? They sure have improved the stability and reliability of their software a lot in recent years, but that doesn't mean a thing as far as long term storage of data goes. Windows 2020 may run great, but that won't help if your images are stored on physically deteriorated CDs, and in a format that can only be read by a software package that was never upgraded after 2005, and won't run on anything post Windows 2008! -tih -- Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, Senior System Administrator, EUnet Norway www.eunet.no T: +47-22092958 M: +47-93013940 F: +47-22092901
