T3D Re: Storage

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Maxey wrote:
> Since you can still purchase the required equipment to use any
> storage and retrieval system ever developed, since the dawning of
> time, I am not worried about the ability to read media in the
> future.
> 

Unfortunately that's not so.  NASA has already lost much of the data
from the early space probes to bit rot because they no longer own
functioning tape drives (of the correct type) and can not purchase
them because the various manufacturers are long out of business and no
one else has functioning copies.  They have racks and racks of tapes
with the metal oxide literally flaking off that they will never be
able to read again, and could not read at the time they discovered
that the media was deteriorating due to lack of proper functioning
equipment.

Archiving data on digital media requires that you not only budget for
continuous transfers to the latest recording media, but that you also
continuously check that your current media (and probably the
generation before) are still readable.

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx              | "Oooh!"
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
NAR# 54438                      |       "Dexter's Laboratory"


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