Digital media data lifespan.

[Thirteen]

I just had a reminder of how fragile digital media is becoming. Each new format seems to be less durable than the previous. Just in case anyone hasn't figured it out or come across it yet flash RAM devices do not keep data for very long when they are unpowered. A hard drive might keep it's data intact for a decade or more before the magnetic degradation on the surface begins making it hard for the heads to read back. CD's usually last for decades. Many SSD's are only warranted to keep data for a year unless the drive is powered up and the data re-written either by the user or by the SSD's own controller. The worst are SD cards and USB memory sticks. Like a re-chargeable battery if you leave them on a shelf un-charged they will fade away. Some SD cards will drop their data in less than a year if the card is not powered up and refreshed within that period.

I know that CDR's and DVDR's and their drives are fading away and becoming obsolete, as are hard disk drives. While all of these media types have a limited data retention lifespan they last enormously longer than flash based data storage. Data is becoming more important than ever yet the media that it is stored upon is becoming less and less lasting and reliable.

I am interested to find out what long term data archival formats are used by those who have a need to preserve data. For the average punter it looks like the only long term way is to personally keep transferring their data from device to device on a regular basis. I don't see any new long term data storage formats emerging onto the consumer market and CD/DVD drives and HDD's are rapidly becoming a thing of the past in consumer gear.

[jkhuri44]

"the cloud".
you will probably find is the answer.
Unfortunately not much of a reality in Aus with current bandwidths....

[Ausrock]

I read an article from an archivist at the Power House Museum some years ago regarding this issue..........the opinion expressed was that traditional media (ie: film or tape), stored correctly could possibly last the best part of 100 yrs whereas they regarded digital storage (H/disk) to have approx., 5 yrs.

When burning CDs I only use quality brands and burn at no more than 25% of the maximum burn rate of the CD........slower if I have time.

[wez]

A friend of mine was recently telling me how he was archiving his entire song catalogue and other important stuff on USB flash drives for his kids to have in the future. Of course I told him that this was a disaster waiting to happen... he was unaware - as are most people I would think - of their extremely limited storage life.

He then asked me of course what was the best way to do it - but I'm not sure of the answer myself to be honest. I suggested archive-rated DVD BUT he would also need to bundle them up with an external DVD drive - your computer in 20 years certainly won't have one! But then there's the connection protocol - USB, eSata, thunderbolt etc will all be long gone - how do you hook the thing up?!

So for music, if it's really important - maybe it's vinyl or 1/4" tape! The cloud is of course the 21st century solution, but how will people find it - will you leave instructions, will it be accessible, will it be password protected? Will it be a gig or two or several terrabytes?

Of course that's if you're putting away something for the future. In the meantime, we're kinda all trapped in the continual migration cycle... new HDs every 3-4 years, 3 copies of everything, and try and be brutal with what you need to keep. Sometimes I think that's the most important part - making hard decisions about what really needs to be preserved (and I'm as hopeless as anyone at that).

Sure, you can take the past with you... but where do you put it?!

[Linear]

I really think a USB or flash drive should only be used as a capture or transfer medium, not as a storage medium.

I've had USB drives fail within 6 months. also I've noticed how they get slower and slower the more they get used, to the point that they're useless.

I read somewhere recently how the storage medium of choice at the CERN hadron collider is reel to reel tape, both for it's reliability, cost of storage and speed of transfer.

http://www.economist.com/news/technolog ... ion-modern

go figure!

[rob]

geez ... imagine doing a head alignment of those machines!

[Chinagraf]

197 i.p.s. !!!!