What to Archive if not with CD-R?

[david_williams11]

Here is an interesting article that was posted at dpreview.com

 

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?

story=513486

 

It basically says that CD-R data integrity doesn't seem to last as

long as manufacturers claim.

 

I guess my question that comes from this is what optical media should

one use to archive if one is choosing only an optical media (ie.

DVDs, CD-R, CD-R/W etc.)

 

Thanx

[ronald_smith2]

I, too, am concerned about this but I recently bought some of those new FujiFilm CD-R Photo discs, and they're made in Japan. From what I can read, if you buy higher-end CD-R media, particularly those made in Japan, you'll be OK. The Taiyo Yuden discs seem to be the preferred ones for long-term storage. In fact, I heard that TY makes discs for Fuji. (or is it the other way around?)

[jack paradise]

This also makes for interesting reading on the above subject.

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/hd-back.shtml

[pete_su]

Buy a 100-300GB hard disk every year and rotate the archives through multiple drives.

 

Much faster and more convenient than CD-R, and every year the disks get bigger.

[phule]

More information comes from a study the US Library of Congress released in September 2003

<p>

<a href="http://www.loc.gov/preserv/study%20of%20CD%20longevity.pdf">http://www.loc.gov/preserv/study%20of%20CD%20longevity.pdf</a>

[carl smith]

They won't last forever, but if you keep them in an opaque back jewel case standing veritically in a cool dry place they should last longer than if they're just sitting in a paper sleeve on a shelf.

 

For the archives you'll keep on them, it's probably easier to just wait for the next big thing and transfer your data to it. Something else will come along before too long.

 

I also happen to agree that an external hard drive is the most convenient approach... and quite archival as well. I use an external 120gig drive which holds copies of the data on the internal drive in my computer. Everything else it now backed up on DVD (instead of CDs now for the most part).

 

That article unfortunately says nothing about the storage conditions or other test conditions that really help you understand how to compare their results to what you might expect, so I didn't find it too helpful. I believe the Image Permanence Institute at RIT is studying CD longevity currently, and I am interested to hear their results since they generally come up with shorter lifetimes than people advertise and seem much more realistic. Also having seen their facilities I can say they do a good job.

[karl_majer]

I couldnt get to the link you posted to see if they mention what I'm using, but I've been using the Mitsumi gold CD-R & DVD-Rs that use the MAM-A Gold Standard. While they dont last forever they supposedly reach out to the 200 year mark. Oddly enough you can find them here: http://www.inkjetart.com/kodak_cd.html if you're interested.

[phule]

Two external drives rotated between work and home, mirroring the same data. Replace the drives as needed. In the rare case of a disaster destroying both, you're not likely to be in a position to worry about it.

 

If work == home, get some off site-storage. This may include online redundancy.

 

Some day storage (today) and bandwidth (not today) will be so cheap and fast that you can store hundreds of GB "online" without any problems. The service provider would handle redundancy. (It could be argued that this is possible today, as there is no reason to backup old data, only new data, and so the biggest problem is the initial upload.)

 

 

Despite claims by DeBeers, Nothing is forever.

[carl smith]

Thanks Karl, they can be hard to find.

 

 

And before DeBeers diamonds weren't worth squat either. Silly company.

[brainbubba_motornapkins]

Smart company, silly consumers.

[lockecito]

Gmail. 1gb of storage. OK, so that's not enough for photos and privacy is an issue and the service is still in beta...but still...

 

My solution is to burn two cds of everything and send a copy to my mother in California.

[gary_a._hill]

If you really want the archival qualities of longevity and capacity, then the new blue-laser Ultra Density Optical is the best. Available in write-once or read/write media. Capacity is 30Gb today; 60Gb and more soon. The technology is phase-change, like DVD, not MO.

[mendel_leisk]

Gary, are you referring to the new paper center dvd disks? What leads you to believe they will last longer than current dvd or cd? I'm not disputing, just wondering if these will be superior in longevity, and if this is documented somewhere.

 

For me, for now, extra internal hard drives, upgraded occasionally as larger cheaper drives come available, are my preferred storage.

[Spearhead]

DVD R/W is probably the most archival of the CD-format technologies. There's information on the web about this. The issue with CDs and DVDs is the dyes, which are not permanent, but these aren't used with the DVD R/W technology.

[rdkirk]

I agree with Ron. A regimen of swapping hard drives is, IMO, the best current solution from a number of standpoings.

 

Cost. Right now, IDE drives represent the cheapest cost per megabyte solution.

 

Convenience. All of us who have computers should be performing the minimal maintenance that our hard drives need anyway. This includes frequent virus scans, power settings that shut down the drive after a few minutes of inactivity, and occasional defragmenting. All these things can be done automatically--the only thing the use has to remember is to swap the drives according to some periodicity--like weekly. Swapping drives is a minor inclusion (swapping bays and drawers are moderate in cost and available to fit any IDE drive form factor). Alternately, one can swap external drives as well.

 

Reliability. This combines sevearal factors: Reliability of the device, possibility and ease of maintenance (which includes probability of discovering data loss as quickly as possible), persistance of data while in storage, possibility of data recovery after most common mishaps. A hard drive swap regimen scores high in all these categories.

[asimh]

"...send a copy to my mother in California."

 

i laughed when i saw this. if i sent it to my mother, she'd probably end up throwing it away thinking the house was getting cluttered. kind of like how she threw away my dad's zeiss camera and lenses thinking they didnt work anymore - he of course had just stopped using them for a period of time.

[gary_a._hill]

I'm not sure what the substrate of a UDO disk is, but it is certainly not paper. UDO is commercial archival media in a 5 1/4 form factor which is replacing 5 1/4 Magneto-Optical (MO) media. Typically used in jukeboxes holding vast amounts of data, but it can also be used in standalone drives. See www.plasmon.com for more information.

 

Of course, the real problem with long-term archiving of digital data is not merely the longevity of the media, but of the software which supports the media. There are many aspects to this: Operating system, file system, file format, and the hardware and software systems which read the media.

[chris auman archivingdigi]

I would not support using anything to archive my files if it has the words "new technology"

attached to it. Stick with what works until something is accepted as the standard. Just my

two cents...