On Nov 29, 2003, at 4:35 AM, Simon Barber wrote:
The reason being that often the images they
take have to be stored in a retrievable condition for a period of up to
twenty years and their research conducted at a national level has deemed
that the medium onto which the images are recorded ie CDs are unreliable
both in terms of retrievably due to possibility of data corruption and the
prospect of future hardware not being compatible with CD technology - which
may make convictions based on photographic evidence unsafe.
"Research conducted at a national level"??? I'd certainly like to see who conducted the research and how this research was conducted.
Many times "research" like this is conducted by someone who is totally unqualified to do any such thing. Usually by someone in the Accounting department.
This was a very short-sighted, knee-jerk reaction and decision, based on some speculative articles printed in a few technical magazines and subsequently picked up by the news media on what was, apparently, a slow news day.
Every time there is a change in storage technology, there is more than adequate time overlap, to transfer and verify files. Anyone who, today, purchases CD recordable media based on the lowest price bid rather than the most reliable data storage, is just asking for trouble regarding data corruption. Stored properly, high-quality, reliable CD media has a life expectancy of over 100 years. You can go online and check THIS scientific research for yourself.
And they should have already started storage on DVD, rather than CD, anyway.
CD/DVD technology appears to be advancing, rather than being replaced, and there doesn't appear, (at this time), as if there is any commercially viable replacement on the horizon. Data storage on CD/DVD technology is going to get even denser on smaller physical media with deeper and redundant data protection built-in. Blue laser technology with a 5x+ density is already "just around the corner".
The film and "wet" process technology/industry is just going to get harder to acquire, and more expensive.....in the foreseeable future. For confirmation, take a very hard squint at the decisions being made at Kodak, and Fuji and other mfgrs in the imaging arena. This technology won't disappear overnight, but it is going to go the way of buggy-whips and slide rules. Remember slide rules??
Bill
Bill Martin's Creative Services Consulting/Networking services and support OS 9.x, X 10.x.x On-site and remote support Digital Photography, Audio, Video
=============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
