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Denton Croft
File Storage
I was recently asked "How can I archive my data so that future generations can read it?" I was not sure of the answer so I did some research. The answer was direct and to the point. You can't.
Optical storage media: CD and DVD can only be expected to last for five years before the aluminum starts separating from the plastic. If you buy the best grade of media you can find, your data might last 10 years. Note that these figures apply only to consumer purchased blank optical disks. Commercially produced products may have a greater lifetime.
Hard Disk: A hard disk, if used on a regular basis, can be expected to last for around 5 years before it starts to deteriorate. If it is being used infrequently it may last as much as 10 years.
Flash drives: Surprisingly, this storage media has a high retention period, about ten years. However, that goal is reached only if it is stored in a safe, dry environment. If you wear it around your neck and take it everywhere you go (like I do) the life span plummets to just a few years (or weeks if it dips into the drinking fountain as you are drinking from it). Flash drives can be unwittingly destroyed if you remove them from a computer without taking care to properly disconnect them.
Tape: This media has the highest advertised life, 30 years or more. But consider this, what will you use to read a tape made 30 years ago? I am thinking of those reel to reel tape drives that were in every major computer center and science fiction movie of 20 years ago. Those tape readers have long since fallen apart and are at least six feet down in some land fill.
Online: There are several companies that provide an online backup service. The cost ranges from $40 to $60 per year or about half of what a 500 gigabyte hard drive would cost. The advantage of an online backup service would be convenience and safety: Safety, because if your house (or place of business) is lost, your data is safe at some other location: convenience, because you could access your data from anywhere in the world. The weak link in online backups is the availability of an Internet connection.
My recommendation would be a combination of flash drives and an external hard drive, realizing that both media will have to be changed out every five years. Many hard drives come with an automatic back up program that will backup your work at a preset time. If you also manually backup up to flash drives (one for every day of the week) you should be covered for just about any eventuality. I am watching closely as online backup services mature and, barring any major Toyota-like scandal, they could become the number one backup choice. If you and your heirs are willing to pay the bill, this could be the solution to long term storage.
I would not recommend optical media because that is labor intensive to the point that one would be inclined to skip a day or ten. Tape drives are also labor intensive and quite expensive as well.
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March Schedule:
COMPUTER I
PICASA 3/15 10:00am – 12:00pm
COMPUTER II
Cost of the 3-day, 6-hour course is $33.00 and includes a student manual. The one-day Email Basics class is $11.00. Call (727) 847-1290 to inquire or register, or come to the front desk at CARES Elfers Center, 4136 Barker Drive, New Port Richey.
The Picasa class will be repeated on April
12.
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"Can You Guess Who This Is?”
Answer to February: Paula Bragg |
