data degredation can i do anything beyond optical?

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w1ngzer0

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
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Is there any media format beyond optical that would prevent or help prevent data degradation?
 
Nothing is permanent. Optical media included. Pressed discs will last a long time, but burned ones don't have quite the lifespan.
 
Hmm, not sure what you are asking about. Even optical disks can decay over time. Especially writable ones as the difference between the pits and lands are much closer than the factory pressed cds and dvds.

Magnetic media will fade over time and needs to be refreshed from time to time.

There is NO perfect solution to long term data storage. You must keep multiple copies, and test them periodically to ensure the data integrity. Libraries and data archive services are struggling with this same issue as we speak with the exploding demand of data archiving.

Well, I suppose chiseling in stone is fairly durable if you choose the right stone. Ever go into an old cemetery and try to read the names on the wrong type of stone.

Don
 
Carve it onto diamond disk and then bury it.

I can actually see some point in the future where people do make disks out of diamonds though. If it cheep enough somebody's bound to do it.
 
Flash memory should last a very long time as without use, it wont wear.
It is an affordable solution at last.
Data may be affected by some forms of radiation over a long period of time so the memory modules are best stored inside a metal case/box.
Make sure you stash away a reader too if its not USB
 
Should he put on a tin hat when he's putting the stuff in the metal box? :) Sorry, had to jump on that opportunity...

If you're absolutely paranoid about data degradation my suggestion would be to use some parity software along with the data you're backing up. I've got some data that simply has to last for years, even decades, and while I re-test it and re-verify its integrity every so often, I also took the time to use software borrowed from primarily Usenet-related activities - QuickPAR - to make parity sets for the data also.

I've got about 12 DVDs with data and emails and other such items I've been acquiring and collecting over the years, each one is created using not only the data but PAR recovery sets so that, even if the discs are scratched to some fairly severe degrees I can still get back the data completely, almost always.

The chances of all 12 being damaged at one time are slim so, it's during the backup creation process and the transportation to the "safe" storage (a safety deposit box, basically) that you stand the worst chance of losing something. I pull 'em out every 2 years to redo them after some integrity checks, always burned at very low speed and verified, then I copy the data back to the hard drive from the media itself and redo the integrity checks with QuickPAR.

Might seem excessive but, when you have data that must survive, this process of mine can seem like a walk in the park to the things some people and companies go through... ;)

I could always do PAR sets for the PAR sets, I guess. :p
 
The only reason i ask such a question is because i do notice degradation in music, video, and pictures. I see pictures that have been on a computer after 10 years don't look so great, some of the old mp3's have corruption to them when they've been transferred between computers.

My concern is creating a large music library and 10 to 15 years down the road my music starts clipping and some of them become unreadable.

Is it proper to assume the whole digital revolution isn't quite practical, yet?
 
The recognised backup media used all over the world are shite for longterm and can be unreliable even after a short time (ie tape, CDR, DVDR).
You are correct to be worried about long term data integrity.

I use my old hard drives to backup important data, as well as DVDR backups of the same data.
This way, I maximise my chances of keeping everything I want.
I may start using flash storage as well, as mentioned in post #5
 
w1ngzer0 said:
The only reason i ask such a question is because i do notice degradation in music, video, and pictures. I see pictures that have been on a computer after 10 years don't look so great, some of the old mp3's have corruption to them when they've been transferred between computers.

My concern is creating a large music library and 10 to 15 years down the road my music starts clipping and some of them become unreadable.

Is it proper to assume the whole digital revolution isn't quite practical, yet?
Click to expand...

I thought I understood what your original question was, and people started answering that question.

But "degradation" of files stored on your HD, and corruption when copying to a new computer? You're doing something else wrong.... If your files aren't lasting a couple of years on your HD without "degrading" you have some issues to sort out.
 
w1ngzer0 said:
Is it proper to assume the whole digital revolution isn't quite practical, yet?
Click to expand...

No, the digital revolution has happened and is a historical fact, not a hypothesis. Digital storage has a big advantage compared to analog storage over long time periods in that digital copies do not suffer from generation loss. You just need to make sure that you keep checksums of your data, as well as sufficient backups. All storage degrades over time, but how many of you are still using HDDs smaller than 1 GB? You should copy your data to newer media as time passes.

When your data displays the signs that you're talking about, your system(s) have had a problem with, e.g., corrupt RAM, HDD, a NIC that inverts some bits or improper shutdown of the computer. Verifying checksums will enable you to detect when such things occur, and having backups will let you restore the original files.
 
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