X-Message-Number: 5561 Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 10:24:51 -0500 From: (Ralph Dratman) Subject: Re: CryoNet #5558 (Re: Data Storage) >This can only be avoided through (1) storing complete data on the format >in the same safe as the media, and (2) copying to new media whenever the >old becomes obsolete. An interesting article on this problem appeared in >Scientific American recently: Rothenberg, J. Ensuring the longevity of >digital documents. Jan. 1995, vol.272, (no.1):24-9. Another, perhaps stronger strategy for ensuring readability of old data is to include a complete computer with the applicable operating system, media reader, printer, etc., tested and ready to boot up, all in the safe. The equipment should use gold for all connectors and contacts and/or be stored in a nitrogen atmosphere, because non-gold connectors slowly oxidize in air and build up resistance. This sounds rather expensive, but if the costs can be divided up among several storage archives, it's probably not too extreme. Then you only have to worry about the availability of AC power at 60 Hz if you want to be a stickler for detail. I suppose you could include a suitable DC-to-AC converter; it seems safe to assume that DC power will never be very difficult to locate, unless electricity is no longer used as a medium for power delivery. Even with this strategy, someone should be assigned to transfer the contents to new, up-to-date media every, say, five years. That up-to-date media should be stored in the safe, but the original media should *never* be discarded. No reader for the up-to-date media need be archived, since the format will be continually revised for then-current equipment. I am writing this "off the cuff", but something similar would be necessary for real continuity, I think. Ralph Dratman Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=5561