How Long Do You Want Digital Media To Last?

spamfiltertest writes "CNET asks 'Would you like your digital-storage media to last 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, 35 years or 40 years?' If you're an organization or government agency, the U.S. government and an optical-disc industry group would like you to answer that question in a quick survey. I would think that we would like our data to last forever, but maybe it's just me."

Comments

Forever

[The Slashdot Guy]

Any other questions?

Last forever

[blueg3]

Yeah, I'd like my digital media to last forever.

While they're at it, can they make my car run forever? I also want to stay young forever, if that's not too much trouble.

Re:Last forever

[Profane MuthaFucka]

When God was designing the human being, he was faced with the same set of tradeoffs that face designers everywhere. He could design around the tradeoffs better than anyone else, of course, since he made the universe with those rules in the first place.

You can choose from good, fast, or cheap. God was under both time and budget pressures, because there were 7 days allocated for the project, and he had already used up 5 of them. If he was to get a day off, 'fast' had to be one of the compromises.

So, he had to choose from good and cheap for the other compromise. I don't know if you have ever looked through a telescope, but those ornaments were really expensive. The budget was blown back on day one, and everything else had to be scaled down a bit. So, cheap was the other compromise.

And that is why I think that human life is fast and cheap, but not typically as good as we'd like.

Secrets?

[kneecarrot]

Sometimes I think it would be great to have optical storage last forever. But then I think about my grandchildren going through my CDs years from now and stumbling on all my porn. Hmm... not good.

Re:Secrets?

[Rorschach1]

Yeah, they'll probably have a good laugh about how quaint and tame early Internet porn was, having been totally desensitized at that point by full sensory immersion porn featuring the genetically engineered offspring of Goatse man and tubgirl.

Maybe Not Forever

[GweiLeong]

Ya I really want my grandkids finding the 60 year old pr0n pix/vidz of grandma the day before we go into the home.

Re:Maybe Not Forever

[hesiod]

Read the times of the posts. THEY WERE POSTED THE SAME FUCKING MINUTE! So he couldn't read it.

I want media tied to my vital functions

[ites]

So that the media will destruct at the moment I die. This will save my heirs from a lot of unnecessary work and embarrasment.

Re:I want media tied to my vital functions

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the bastard offspring of a human and goat will have more to be embarrassed about than the digital images you kept of their conception.

(It's a joke, not a troll. I promise!)

Re:I want media tied to my vital functions

[MadFarmAnimalz]

So that the media will destruct at the moment I die. This will save my heirs from a lot of unnecessary work and embarrasment.

I think you mean your vital signs, unless you want to have to redownload all that pr0n everytime you take a crap.

Re:Not always forever

[me at werk]

You work for Diebold?

How long?

[genjo]

At least until the FBI gives my servers back to me. They DO give them back, right?

Data Archive Services want something different...

[zoomba]

If you're a business that specializes in the massive backup or translation of data from one medium to another, you probably want media to last a few years at most. That way, organizations are constantly coming to them with stores of data that they need re-recorded.

Pretty much the only way to make your media last forever is to have it stored in a solid state (like being etched into the surface of a DVD) and then sealed and stored in a moistureless, airless, lightless temperature controlled environment. But with all the talk about self-destructing DVDs and CDs that the recording industries are trying to push, I don't think even that's possible.

CONVERT ALL YOUR DATA INTO BINARY AND THEN LASER ETCH IT INTO GLASS! THEN SANDWICH IT BETWEEN TWO OTHER LAYERS OF GLASS AND HIDE IT ON A MOUNTAINTOP! YOU MUST SAVE YOUR PR0N COLLECTION FOR ALIENS TO DISCOVER AFTER WE'VE BLOWN OURSELVES TO ATOMS!!

This rant was brought to you by the Reynolds Society for Tin Foil Hats... Remember, only Reynolds Wrap brand tin foil can protect you from the strongest of the alien mind-control rays!

53.3 Years

[Anonymous Coward]

53.3 years... because 640 months should be enough for anyone.

How long?

[killmenow]

I was going to pontificate about usefulness of data and a bunch of crap like that until I realized how simple the answer to this question really is:

42

DVDA?

[DaPhoenix]

Why would the porn industry be interested in conducting a survey of the lifetime of digital media?

I say porn industry because its DVDA.org... Double vag... come on, you all watch southpark.

Re:I'll take the survey in a bit, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you really want longevity you should take your microfiche and cut the words into sheets of gold.

I did, but this Joseph Smith guy dug them up and completely mistranslated them.

Re:I'll take the survey in a bit, but...

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I want my digital media to be waiting for me...

When I'm extracted from the CryoPod in 3056.