Robin Laing wrote:
James Wilkinson wrote:
Reuben D. Budiardja wrote:
I'd say that in my situation, if the data is not needed after 4-5
years we probably won't need it at all. It's just that we don't want
to just wipe off a desktop machine clean without doing some amount of
archiving. So I'm not worry about longevity.
Given the costs of new disks these days, and the fact that disks do go
wrong after enough use, do consider just swapping out the hard drive and
storing the old one somewhere. And getting more disk space into the
bargain...
James.
This is one option that is used around here but there are reports that I
have heard about HD's that don't like being left alone on the shelf and
need to be part of a computer or they commit suicide. :)
I don't know if it is true or not.
Many drives left in that condition become victims of stiction.
Since I already made some comments here about my position, I haven't
posted more info, but I highly recommend investigating that word.
But if long term data retention is important, then checking the data
from time to time and rewriting the data to new media (which will hold
more data) may be an option. Look at the upcoming Blue-Ray as an example.
Sounds like a PITA to me.
Tape was mentioned earlier which reminds me of a letter I received from
the Planetary Society about data recorded on data tape but that the
player necessary to play the tapes was the last and needed major work.
For now I will stick with DVD's and RAR as an option. At least with
some corrupted data, I can do a rebuild and get it back. Of course two
copies of really critical data is important.
Whatever floats your boat. I wouldn't use a compressed format for
archival purposes.
Mike
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