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P Witte wrote:
> Robert Newson writes:
>> P Witte wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>>> I have serious doubts whether modern, CD-ROM based systems could keep
>>>> the data for so long. I would never use CDs or DVDs for long-term
>>>> storage of important data.
>>> CDs and DVDs are the "medium of the day" (as were microdrives and
>>> floppies in their day). Round the next corner are HD and Blu-ray,
>>> perhaps, so then we'll have to copy all our important data once again.
>> Wasn't there a report [fairly] recently about writeable CDs becoming
>> unreadable after a while, the time also dependent upon method of labelling
>> said CD?
>>
>> see, eg:
>>
>> http://searchwincomputing.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid68_gci1157306,00.html
>> http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04127/311683.stm
>> http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00EoLc
>
> No one knows how long CD/DVDs will really last. Guestimates range from
> two to 100 years, depending on the quality of media, the recorder, how
> they are recorded, how handled, labelled and stored (and who you want to
> believe).
>
> And this is exactly my point: To be sure, important data should always
> be backed up to "the medium of the day". But this is not enough, as
> there are more serious threats to precious data: Obsolescence; ie not
> being able to read the disk due to no longer having a compatible device
> to read the medium, or being able to find or to run the software
> required to interpret the data.
There are two relevant points here.
To listen to the court transcripts of the Nelson Mandela trial, a repro
reader had to be made.
The British Library still keep their paper archives. They do use "media
of the day" as Per put it, but cannot keep up to date as they do not
have resources to keep it on current media.
I reckon historians in a few hundred years will have less data for
current times (proportionally) for certain things than we do for 200
years ago. Letters for instance have been a major source of historical
data. Can you imagine emails being saved for 100 years let alone read?
Also paper is a very tolerant media. Damaged tape/CDs etc are very very
difficult to restore and require a high degree of current technical
knowledge. Also if the data degrades to any degree overall, recovery is
probably impossible. Data on paper is very much easier. It is much more
likely to be recoverable after fire/flood, and if the ink fades, or the
paper tears. It is also future proof. Eyes and brain probably won't
change that much!
When I sold the QL Telepen barcoder, I included a program to print out
data in barcode form. I don't suppose this was used by anyone, but I
bet would have lasted better than the average microdrive!
Tony
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