Rick, I would hedge my bets on the CD-ROM or DVD long-term archival method. I've seen estimates that range from 100's of year life expectancy on this media type all the way down to 2-3 years is all the longer you can expect to reliably read data off them. One place even said you should put the burned CDs or DVDs in zip-lock bags and put them in the freezer to extend their shelf life!
A lot of it will depend on the media and the actual recording techniques used. I personally wouldn't trust the "dirt-cheap" media for very long - from personal experience. My wife put together a slide show for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. She burned about 30 copies of the DVD after creating it. After 2 years most of the burned copies were having read errors and after 3 they were all completely unusable. Rex -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Rick Fochtman Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 11:20 AM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: Disk replacing Tape? Have you considered burning CD-ROMs or DVDs for storage, rather than tape? Drives can be less expensive, the media is dirt cheap compared to tape and for historical purposes the result will probably last far longer. Rick ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- Matan Cohen wrote: >As a small develop company which don't use the tape to archive only for >backups. >We are in the processing of get rid of our 3590 (actually the tape driver > stop working yesterday). >we found that it will be the best solution for us is to backup our DATA to >disk and then send it to other more cheaper platform (windows) which will >manage the writing to tapes. >so all of this step is more for getting rid of the 3590 not Tapes from the >cost aspect . > > >On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 3:29 AM, Gibney, Dave <gib...@wsu.edu> wrote: > > > >>>-----Original Message----- >>>From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On >>>Behalf Of John McKown >>>Sent: Sunday, June 20, 2010 4:38 PM >>>To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu >>>Subject: Re: Disk replacing Tape? >>> >>>On Sun, 2010-06-20 at 16:20 -0700, Ed Gould wrote: >>> >>> >>>>Over the last few years I have seen more and more articles stating >>>> >>>> >>>companies are replacing tape drives with disk drives. >>> >>> >>>>I realize that most of the talk is from small computer users. >>>> >>>> >>However I >> >> >>>> am seeing and hearing stories that the movement has started with >>>> mainframes. I was wondering if anyone on here is seeing that trend >>>> >>>> >>or >> >> >>>> staying the same (or increasing). Now I know tape capacity is going >>>> through the roof and that might be the reason why some people are >>>> saying disk is replacing tape. Disk space is really becoming >>>> >>>> >>cheaper >> >> >>>> so its not impossible that this might be happening. >>>> >>>>>From my (admittedly dated) perspective, until the ability to share >>>> disk drives (transparently) I do not see the use of tape really >>>> decreasing all that much. I would like to hear from the list what >>>> their thoughts are about disk replacing tapes on the mainframe >>>> happening. Soon/not in the next 20 years/never. >>>> >>>>Ed >>>> >>>> >>>I often wonder how these non-tape users address things like 10 year >>>archival copies of programs, data, and reports. Which we need for >>> >>> >>legal >> >> >>>reasons. >>> >>> >>DFHSM with SMS MGMTCLAS controlled retention. >>We also have Control-D for report management and CA-Endevor for source >>management. >> >> >> >>>-- >>>John McKown >>>Maranatha! <>< >>> >>>--------------------------------------------------------------------- - >>>For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >>>send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO >>>Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html >>> >>> >>---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >>send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO >>Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html >> >> >> > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
