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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."

2 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. are we talking hookers? by sum.zero · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    i'll take cheap and good.

    sum.zero

  2. Re:Why depend on physical media by PxM · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    My main gripe is the transfer times CDs and DVDs require you to manipulate plastic to get to your information so if you want to copy your entire DVD library to the new HD-Ultraviolent-Blu-Ray media disc, you have to pick up each disk and place it into a DVD drive. However, with a RAID system, you just cp a directory over the network. If you have one of those automated backup system with moving arms, I guess it's similar but that's a bit extreme for home use. I have a lot of VHS tapes, CDs, and physical photos sitting at home because I'm too lazy to manually copy them to an easy to access digital system. If they were already on my home data server and I wanted to send them to a physically offsite backup, I could just ftp them overnight assuming I have the bandwith. The latter method makes it easier to have backups and backups to protect important data. I'm more concerned with data loss due to fire or a localized physical problem. If I could easily replicate data between my PDA, my home server, and a few offsite backups, I don't need my physical media to be able to last for years since I can just replace the components as tech gets better or parts start to fail.

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