For offline storage: On Tue, Apr 02, 2024 at 05:53:15AM -0700, David Christensen wrote: > Does anyone have any comments or suggestions regarding how to use magnetic > hard disk drives, commodity x86 computers, and Debian for long-term data > storage with ensured integrity?
I use LVM on ext4, and I add a MD5SUMS file at the root. I then power up the drives at least once a year and check the MD5SUMS. A simple CRC could also work, obviously. So far, I have not detected MORE corruption with this method than the drive ECC itself (current drives & buses are much better than they used to be). When I have errors detected, I replace the file with another copy (I usually have multiple off-site copies, and sometimes even on-site online copies, but not always). When the errors add up, it is time to buy another drive, usually after 5+ years or even sometimes 10+ years. So, just re-reading the content might be enough, once a year or so. This is for HDD (for SDD I have no offline storage experience, it could be shorter).
