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Thanks For the ... Eight-Track, Uncle Alex
Uncle Alex writes "My niece just turned one year old and her parents have asked that, instead of the usual gifts, we each contribute something to a time capsule to be opened on her 17th birthday. Multiple members of my family want to contribute digital data — text, video, music files. They came to me (the closest thing to a geek our family has) wondering: what's the best way to save the data to ensure she'll actually be able to see it in 16 years? Software might be out of date, hardware may no longer be used... any suggestions?"
16 years isn't such a long time, but just to be sure, put a netbook inside the capsule. Make sure it can run on external power alone, and remove the battery.
Get a plain writing book with acid-free paper and each write a personal story, message, commentary etc. Attach photos on stable stock paper together with personal items such as a slip of wallpaper or slither of wood etc. from her first bedroom, a dried flower from the garden, small items that conjure up the day/year she was born etc.
Store in a sealed box in a dry, safe, dust-free environment
Much more unique, personal and tactile. /Even geeks need to know when to stop
AT&ROFLMAO
Physical objects should go into the capsule, not data. The reason we do that is because it's difficult to keep archived objects pristine and from getting lost. With data, you can store it in multiple places and always retrieve a bit for bit exact copy. Not so with physical objects.
Camping on quad since 1996.
Write it down.
I can still read a book a hundred years old, I can't read a C64-floppy twenty years old.
Well, think what was around 16 years ago (1993) and project forward:
The compact disc had been invented for a little over 13 years and was still going strong (and would do until five-ten years after that).
Thinkpads were available with CD etc. (although we're talking 486's here because the Pentium was JUST coming out)
So if you dug up an old 486 with some CD's now, how hard would it be to get running? How hard if your particular units didn't work? Not very.
Now project 16 years into the future - buy yourself some *new* reliable technology (CD was in its infancy as a computer format in 1993). Make it as standard and popular as possible. Throw in a device that's still likely to be passed around on second-hand websites like eBay just in case. Hell, I can still buy ZX Spectrums for little more than a few dollars, and that was 25 years ago. Hedge your bets... use a Blu-Ray AND DVD for everything you want to put in there. Throw in some Windows / Linux / Open Source / freeware to read the data (don't do a BBC Domesday project and have to decode the software as well as find the hardware).
If you wanna be ultra-sure... throw in a Gumstix or something small and capable of playing the media (you could use USB memory in this case, or CompactFlash or similar). Hardware easily survives 16 years if you look after it or don't touch it. The data media may not (especially writable media) so project it forward with each transition of your own personal data.
And most importantly - backup, backup, backup. Include *two* of each device, and two copies of the data in two different media, on two seperate discs/flashs and keep a copy on your home machine to "upgrade" to the next new format.
Do you realize that you're a looking at it with 20/20 hindsight? Yes, the 3.5" floppy did all right but loads of other media did not. I've used 8" floppies, 5 1/4" floppies, Iomega zipdrives, several sorts of tape drives, half a dozen different memory card standards... none of those were seen as fringe technologies at the time.
In other words: No, all technology will not be an arcane relic in 16 years but _many_ technologies will be. The trick is choosing the right one.
Keep copies of all the software needed to play those video files *cough* vlc *cough*, and a means of running that program - maybe a whole OS in a raw hard disk image or something, so you can mount it in a virtual machine in 16 years. I'm sure some nerds will want to emulate x86 processors long after ARM has taken over.
Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
I would burn the video files to Bluray (primary disc) and also DVD and CD (backups). I suspect these formats will still be around 16 years from now - or at least some kind of disc player with that backwards-compatibility. I also suspect the lower density discs like CD will survive longer. I've experienced this with my own machines where the 3 1/5" floppies died, but the low-density 5 1/4" disks still worked.
And yes text files and photos should be printed to paper. If the discs self-erase (the dye fades), then at least she'll still have the letters and photos to look at. .
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
This is what happens when you marry for superficial reasons like, "She has a big rack" or "He buys me things." People ignore the practical stuff like - Can you sit in a room for hours, just watching boring TV, and tolerate one another's annoying quirks? If you can then you can build a marriage that will last forever (or at least 'til death).
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Or even better, do you have the ability to do things without each other. Staying in a room together without annoying each other for hours is fine, but marriage is being stuck in a room together for years. Sometimes you have to leave the room, be your own person, and then come back to the room.
I love /. tags!
What?
flash memory will not last that long, the charge will leak away... the drive will probably still be usable, but the stored data will have *gone away*
Chuck
I never understood that. I can understand the purple-colored dye fading if it's exposed to light (same as a rug or painting fades), but if it's stored inside a dark Caselogic notebook, why would it fade? It should be just fine.
I guess you could also throw-in a USB flashdrive for backup. That ought to last 15 years, but the question is - Will it still be readable? What if USB ports disappear like PS/2, Centronics, and serial connections have disappeared? For example I have an ancient 80s printer that still works, but I have no way to hook it up. The same might happen to a USB drive.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
My niece just turned one year old and her parents have asked that, instead of the usual gifts, we each contribute something to a time capsule to be opened on her 17th birthday. Multiple members of my family want to contribute digital data - text, video, music files.
Data doesn't go into time capsules. There's absolutely no reason why you couldn't share that text, video, or music with her at any point over the next 17 years. And she'll likely be exposed to it anyway... Music will be playing on the radio, books will be available, folks will share family pictures and videos...
It might make sense to include a photograph with a note on the back, or a couple-page letter to her... But you don't just stuff the capsule full of digital data. That stuff would be better archived on a live computer and updated over the next few years.
What you put into a time capsule are physical objects. Think back to 17 years ago... What would be more fun to stumble across - an mp3 of I'm Too Sexy , or a working minidisc player?
What physical objects are new/cool/important/meaningful right now, that may not be later? Maybe throw a pair of her baby shoes in there... Grab something small off your dining room table or out of your front yard... Maybe the cell phone you just replaced... A couple ticket stubs to something that just opened... Toss in a cheap mp3 player (something that takes disposable batteries, like AA/AAA) loaded with some current songs on it...
In 17 years, when she opens it, you'll be able to say "Those shoes were on your feet 17 years ago. I talked on that cell phone 17 years ago. That's what we used to listen to music 17 years ago." And she'll be able to pick the things up, handle them, feel them, turn them on, see how they worked, compare them to whatever is current. Instead of just firing up a home-made version of I Love the '80s
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
If I were going to pick a random filesystem that will be readable in 15+ years for such a project, I'd probably put my bets on ISO9660, especially since this is a read-only storage situation.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
If you want to include digital files, the best option is to probably include the entire hardware/software stack to run it on. Get a netbook, and throw that in there. Kind of an expensive option, but definitely would ensure that the data could be read. I'm almost certain we'll still be using the same AC outlets in 17 years time. Or at worst, you'd need some kind of plug adapter.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Hell, leave something that will be a collectible then...?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Why not just leave a couple bottles of good scotch....
If they're old now, drink 'em now. If they're young now, they're not going to improve in the bottle. A bottle of 10-year-old single-malt, stored sealed in the bottle for 35 years, is not 45-year-old single malt. It's a bottle of 10-year-old single-malt in a really dusty bottle.
That said, after the zombie apocalypse, a good bottle of pre-apocalypse scotch might be quite valuable, either for trade or as an incendiary grenade. So this may be good thinking after all.
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