[TriLUG] Availability of bzip2 in 20 years?

[Glenn Hennessee]

This article, 
http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/0,10801,107607,00.html 
says a lifespan of 2-5 years for cds you burn yourself. Another article 
I read another article that claimed 18 months or less even under good 
storage conditions. The higher quality, i.e. higher price, blanks lasted 
longer than the cheaper discs. Of course there are people who say that 
they can read discs they burned many years ago and that is likely to be 
the case. I'm sure this operates on the standard bell curve of 
probability like pretty much everything else. Maybe Consumer Reports 
will test them someday ;)  If it's vital the data be kept then making 
multiple copies, storing them in the dark in a temperature controlled 
room, and recopying them yearly would seem to be the safest bet.

glenn


Warren Myers wrote:
> On 11/26/06, John Mitchell <john280z at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 11/25/06, Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:
>> <snip> I'm considering backing up to bzip2 instead of gzip (.tgz) to
>> pack more on a single DVD. <end snip>
>>
>> Steve, you are missing something here. In 20 years you will not have a
>> device that is capable of "reading" a DVD. (That assumes that the
>> plastic disk is still in working order also.)
> 
> 
> I have CDs from 20 years ago that read fine in my CD player of today - why
> would you expect DVDs to be any different in 20 years? Shoot, you can still
> walk into yon electronics department of almost any store and buy VCRs - and
> they've been around for closer to 30.
> 
> True enough, the media might go bad (burned discs seem to never last as 
> long
> as stamped), but the technology shouldn't be going anywhere.
> 
>   Not counting one in the closet, do you still have a 5 1/4" flopply
>> drive on your PC? That is 20 year old technology. The IBM 3.5" flopply
>> came into being only 19 years ago:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2
>>    I don't even want to think about all those 20 years old back-up
>> tapes!  :)
>>
>> john mitchell
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> 
> 
> 


-- 
Glenn Hennessee
Department of Chemistry
NC State University
Raleigh, NC 27606
Voice: (919) 515-2947 FAX: (919) 515-8909
Email: Glenn_Hennessee at ncsu.edu