On Thu, Nov 5, 2015 at 10:47 AM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <[email protected]> wrote: > | From: o1bigtenor <[email protected]> > > | Looking at backing up a little less than 300 GB of files. Want to do > | one copy to 25 GB Bluray discs. > > I think about this but don't act on it.
I'm thinking that this is quite true of most of us!!! > > I don't know the perfect solution. I've had ALL kinds of media go bad > or unreadable due to loss of technology. > > The best bet (and I don't do this) is to have multiple copies on > multiple media. Actively backed up (i.e. in a rolling repeated > process, onto new media as they becomes available). Physically > separated (so one fire, flood, or war doesn't take it out). > > All media age in some ways, not all known ahead of time. > > I've had CD's physically destroyed by plasticizer from the window on > the paper sleeve they were stored in. It took a number of years. > Threats can come from out of left field. > > The lifetime of media seem to have a LIFO nature. Newer stuff is > often more delicate (and made obsolete sooner). > > - stone tablets came first and outlast most of their successors > > ... You forgot papyrus reed stuff then came parchment > > - paper from before ~1850 last a long long time > > - later paper (from wood pulp) last a long time (but less than older paper). > I have books that I bought new that are deteriorating from the acid > in the paper. > > - punch cards and paper tape seem to last indefinitely (I have modest amounts) > and I can read them by hand. I think I could build my own reader if > I felt the urge. > > - 9-track tapes (I have some backups on them) aren't useful any > longer because the drives are expensive and rare. Probably the > recordings have decayed but I have no way of finding out. > > - 8", 5.25", 3.25" floppies are starting to fall off the edge. > > - LASER disks and magneto-optical disks appear to be gone. > > - MFM and RLL disks are no longer supported. > > - SCSI and (p)ATA disks are all but gone. > > But maybe your information will be unimportant before any of this > kicks in. > > There are DVD's that claim to have very long lifetimes. They might be > worth a shot. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC> > > Blu-rays seem to have little takeup for data. I don't even know if > Linux has software to master them. I would avoid them. (I bought a > Blu-ray burner but have never used it for Blu-rays. It can also burn > M-Discs but I haven't used that feature yet.) Have on and am using it but it takes about an hour to burn about 24 GB which makes it a slow process when you have say a TB of data! > > USB flash-memory sticks are very convenient. I have no confidence > that their lifetime will be long and reliable. Anyone know? > > For our most important records we still keep paper. The easiest to destroy, change and do - - - hmmmmmm so much for the paperless office that was promised way back in the 80s! Dee --- Talk Mailing List [email protected] http://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
