[TriLUG] OT: long term storage

[Ed Hill]

On Fri, 2002-08-23 at 09:58, Mark Turner wrote:
> Ryan Wheaton wrote:
> 
> >    I'm looking into long term storage / backup solutions and was
> >wondering what everyone else was using (and how well it worked), and if
> >there was something out there that maybe I hadn't thought of.
> >
> Optical will easily outlast tape. Mag media has about 1/5th the  
> shelflife of CD's or DVD's. Humidity is evil.

Absolutely.  See the studies of CD-R longevity at:

  http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Media/Kodak.html
  http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/Media/Longevity.html

which basically says that CD-Rs will last for many decades providing
that you keep them dry, relatively cool (25 deg.C--room temp--is fine),
and shielded from sunlight or other bright light sources.


> DVD's and CD's have faster access times (no rewinding). Also, the 
> hardware and media are cheaper. I bought a DVD-RAM drive from Intrex 
> this week for $45. And there's something to be said about just hanging 
> the disc off a network share and letting your users get whatever they 
> need without having to bother you to find a tape.

+1

And, in my experience, tapes and tape drives:

  1) break more quickly due to more moving parts, and
  2) seem to be continuously (every 3-5yrs) outdated by newer 
       formats.

Compare that with CDs which:

  1) are available on nearly *every* machine, and
  2) are sufficiently backwards-compatible that most good-quality 
       CD-Rs will work on even "ancient" early-90's (1-2X) CDROM 
       drives.

I'll wager that CD-Rs will be useful *well* into the next decade.

Ed

ps - I'm in Golden, CO these days so look me up if/when you're in 
     Colorado.


-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD 
Post-Doctoral Researcher   |  Email:  ed at eh3.com,  ehill at mines.edu
Division of ESE            |  URLs:   http://www.eh3.com
Colorado School of Mines   |    http://cesep.mines.edu/people/edhill.php
Golden, CO  80401          |  Phone:  303-273-3483    Fax: 303-273-3311