CD's are already being replaced by flash memory. DVD's are being
replaced by DL DVD's, and eventually will probably be replace by flash
memory too. What will replace flash memory, who knows? You can bet that
no media will ever have a useful life expectancy of more than 10 years
before it is superseded. Just plan on it. Actually prints in albums are
the only thing I know of that have out lasted that 10 year figure, but
the albums sure have changed over the years.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
John Forbes wrote:
On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 06:00:37 +0100, Boris Liberman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Hi!
I discovered the "need more storage" thread just now, by looking in the
archives. Long term storage is a hot topic among my friends over here
at the moment, but nobody seems to have any "best practice" to point
to.
"Nobody" includes me too :-) but I would very much like to establish
a good practice for myself. So by googling, and some thinking, I've
come down to a list of things to
consider. I'm not sure if this is a good list to go by, and would
very much
like to hear some opinions:
1. Longevity of storage medium (Hard-drive, DVD, etc.)
2. Longevity of the technology used to access the medium (USB, SCSI,
etc.)
3. Longevity of software support for the chosen file format (RAW,
TIFF, etc.)
Then there is:
4. Data safeguarding (backup routines etc.)
5. Data availability (access time to a file)
6. Production volume (number of exposures and edit-files)
7. Convenience
8. Cost (both time and money)
By any measure, a solution to cover all this points will be a trade-off
between several of them. Convenience and longevity pull in the same
direction, for example, while cost pulls the other way.
So what do you think? And how do you store your precious moments?
Jostein, here is my very simple solution which is probably not that
good too.
1. I have two hard drives on my PC... I have a free-ware piece that
copies/deletes everything that was changed-added/deleted on one drive
to the other drive. So I have about 120 GB of logically mirrored
storage. My computer is protected by UPS in case of power surge. Few
times already it managed to survive.
2. Since I am approaching the moment where my capacity will be
exceeded I've started the process of organizing my PEFs and index JPGs
and transferring them to DVDs. I routinely use CDs and DVDs only by
Verbatim. Verbatim CDs seem to hold for 3-4 years easily. I can say
nothing about Verbatim DVDs because enough time hasn't passed yet.
3. My first backup solution was two CD copies of everything. Now I can
consolidate in roughly 6:1 proportion so that my CD wallets will be
useful for some time longer. And just in case I have two more backup
copies of some of my files.
The main question I keep asking myself is this however. Suppose now
that I manage to keep my files (both from scanned film and digital)
for, say, 25 years. So, suppose today I am 60 (I am gonna be 35 soon)
and I want to review some of my Norwegian travel memories ;-)...
Will there be a program, a software piece able to read the PEFs or
DNGs or JPGs or TIFFs in 25 years?
Boris, you are not going to go to sleep like Rip Van Winkle, and wake up
in 30 years to find that JPEGS are history. You'll see a new format
introduced (if it is), and make new copies of your CDs in the new
format. It is inconceivable that a new format would be introduced
without a way to convert existing formats to it. When PNG came out, all
regular imaging software embraced it.
John
Boris
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