There is _no_ assured lifetime for optical media (DVD, CD). There are claims that "archival quality" media last for 100 years. There is also experiential evidence that this is not so. Optical media may fail catastrophically at any time (although the odds are that a given platter will last for many years). If you use optical media for archival purposes, you need to be created multiple copies, and also need a fairly rigorous program to test each copy regularly (at least once a year) to look for degradation.
Faced with this headache, we have opted for live RAID storage, with additional off-site live storage--we are currently looking at Amazon's S3, as well as at a newer service, carbonite.com. Ultimately, we hope to work with a few geographically-distributed partners to back up each other's work, but don't yet feel that we have the experience or knowledge to be confident that we're ready to do that. ari On 2/12/07, Susan Fishman-Armstrong <sfishman at westga.edu> wrote: > > A couple of conservation questions: > > Our laboratory director came to me last week. He is starting to digitize > his old maps on DVDs. > > He ran across some information that said that the lifetime of DVDs is only > 5 > years. Is that true? > If so, what is the estimated lifespan of the gold plated DVDs? > Finally, is the lifespan of DVDs shorter than CDs? > > Thanks, > > Susan > > +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ > Susan Fishman-Armstrong > Laboratory Coordinator > Antonio J. Waring, Jr. Archaeological Laboratory > University of West Georgia > Carrollton, GA 30118 > > 678-839-6303 (office) > 678-839-6306 (fax) > www.westga.edu/~ajwlab/ > > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > Amalyah Keshet > Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 3:05 AM > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Subject: [MCN-L] IP SIG: Copyright at the Whitney: the > Oldenburg-PicassoExhibit > > Interesting post at : > http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/ > > "Copyright at the Whitney: the Oldenburg-Picasso Exhibit It goes without > saying that I can't go anywhere without seeing copyright issues lurking in > the background. The last room of the Whitney's "Picasso and American Art," > however, forced them to the foreground..." > > > > > > > > Amalyah Keshet > Head of Image Resources & Copyright Management > The Israel Museum, Jerusalem akeshet at imj.org.il > Chair, MCN IP SIG www.mcn.edu > Blog www.musematic.net > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l >
