Who is going to be using disks in 300 years? All a disk has to last is 20 and then you wont be able to find a disk drive anymore. Especially since compact ram cards are becoming smaller and more popular. Unless you are going to download your CD roms while listening to your 8-track collection buying 300 year DVD's or CD's is just a waste of money.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Diana R. Tomchick" <[email protected]> To: "Butch Fralia" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 3:09 PM Subject: RE: CaveTex: OFF TOPIC: cd storage and lifespan > Check out the National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST) web > site concerning their digital data preservation program: > > http://www.itl.nist.gov/div895/preservation/ > > and download the PDFs for > > "The Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs" (50 pages long!) > > and > > "Stability Study of Optical Discs" (8 pages). > > These two articles will explain, in great gory detail, how CDs and DVDs > are constructed, provide recommendations on how to store CDs and DVDs > to prolong their useful lifetimes and provide results from testing discs > under harsh environmental conditions. They do not address how to retrieve > the useful data after 10 years have passed and the data format is now > unreadable by current software. In order to do that you will either need > to keep a computer around that can run the old software, or convert the > data every few years to a newer format. > > I would also recommend making multiple copies of important electonic > data and stashing them in different places, and not just leaving one copy > at home and one at work. I'd send at least one other copy to a trusted > relative in another part of the country, in case of a natural disaster. > > Diana > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > Diana R. Tomchick > Assistant Professor > University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center > Department of Biochemistry > 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Tel: +1 214 648 9760 > Y4.330a Fax: +1 214 648 8954 > Dallas, TX 75235-9038, U.S.A. Email: [email protected] > > On Tue, 13 Sep 2005, Butch Fralia wrote: > > > Keith Heuss ran some interesting test on CD's and found the gold ones were > > far superior to those with Silver backing. I'll let him supply the details. > > Kodak and HP CD's tested the best but gold CD's are really getting hard to > > find in computer stores, at least here in North Texas, without special > > ordering. > > > > I would suspect the same rules would apply for DVD's as well though they > > weren't available at the time Keith ran his tests. The greatest advantage > > to DVD's is the amount of data one will hold versus a CD. > > > > I have a suspicion that some of the file data formats will change as some > > programs become obsolete. I have old files that I can't retrieve the data > > from because the programs are no longer available. > > > > Butch > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On > > Behalf Of [email protected] > > Sent: Monday, September 12, 2005 4:28 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: CaveTex: OFF TOPIC: cd storage and lifespan > > > > > > I know that this is off-topic, but I seem to remember a while back that > > someone(s) had been posting their planned experiment to see just how > > "permanent" cd-r's were with data backup. > > > > I ask this because I see on the back page of the latest Light Impressions > > catalog that there is a cd they are peddling which claims to be "the 300 > > Year Disc." Other claims are that it is the "best CD on the market," that > > its "patented dye makes stored data easier to read," and that "24k gold > > stops CD rot." > > > > Knowing the combined knowledge of the caving community is pretty > > impressive, does anyone out there have any input on this? I know that with > > my digital images, the only option I really have for storage is on either > > CD-R's or DVD's. Which is better, and is this "300 Year Disc" all it claims > > to be. > > > > Of course, if it only lasts 250 years, who do I go to complain to? > > > > Vauter > > -- > > No virus found in this outgoing message. > > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > > Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.23/99 - Release Date: 9/12/2005 > > > > > To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to mailto:[email protected] > with the following message--unsubscribe cavetex. For help and > information go to www.cavetex.net. > List administrator: mailto:[email protected] > To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to mailto:[email protected] with the following message--unsubscribe cavetex. For help and information go to www.cavetex.net. List administrator: mailto:[email protected]
