Slashdot Mirror
Digital Storage To Survive a 25-Year Dirt Nap?
AlHunt writes "I've been tasked with finding a way to bury digitally stored photographs in a small underground time capsule to be opened in 25 years. It looks like we'll be using a steel vessel, welded closed. I've thought of CDs, DVDs, a hard drive, or a thumb drive — but they all have drawbacks, not the least of which is outdated technology 25 years from now. Maybe I'll put a CD and a CD-ROM drive in the capsule and hope that the IDE interface is still around in 25 years? Ideas and feedback will be appreciated."
http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/wang2200a/
Alternative title: "How many bullshit redundant replies can you fit in a Slashdot thread?"
Stone with the data chiseled in HEX.
Most of the stuff on
Just stick them on an Archival Gold CD, and in 25 years post this to Slashdot:
"I've been tasked with finding a way to read digitally stored photographs buried in a small underground time capsule 25 years ago. It looks like they used a steel vessel, welded closed..."
Pfft. Just upload an encrypted ZIP file with all the photos in it to BitTorrent as "teen bj strip xxx porn". That way, thousands of people will seed it and you'll be able to download it any time you want.
Close to what I was thinking. I heard a senator talk about the internet, and basically it's just a series of tubes. I would think one could put the photos into one of the tubes, cap the ends, and bury it. 25 years from now, reconnect the tube to the internet and look at the images in your favorite browser.
Only a handful of working systems in US including mine.
That's awesome! I have an old wang I would really like to get something from. Do you think I could take my wang out and put it in your system?
I'd guess the best thing to use would be a laser time domain reflectometer
A "Laser Time Domain Reflectometer"? You made that up! Admit it!
I don't think it will be the medium that will be the problem, it will be the message. Imagine the shock of those viewing it to learn that our generation thought that there weren't WMD in Iraq or that Han Solo shot first. I'd limit the contents of this a few MP3's and photos of the Whitehouse, otherwise your time capsule will last all of 5 minutes after being unearthed before its whisked away to the Ministry of Subversive Materials.
Actually, better forget the MP3s, or you'll be tracked down by the RIAA and sued for 25years of lost song rental income.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.