Ask Slashdot: Storing Items In a Sealed Chest For 25 Years?

New submitter accet87 writes "We are celebrating the Silver Jubilee of our graduation next month and have come up with an idea where we will build an air-tight chest in which each of us will deposit something and will open the chest only on our Golden Jubilee, i.e. after another 25 years. I want to understand what kind of items can be safely stored for 25 years and what kind of precautions are required to be taken. I am sure things like paper, non-ferrous metallic objects, wood, etc., will hold up well. What about data storage electronically? I don't think CD/DVDs, etc., will be usable. Even if the data is retained, reading it in 2037 may be a challenge."

Comments

Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[mlts]

If I were storing stuff for a long time, I would consider using an airtight sealed case, oxygen absorber and a dessicant, making sure that if any liquid came out, it could not touch the protected device. I would separate out items just to be safe.

Some items, like SD media, I'd also consider using anti-static packaging just for peace of mind as well.

Re:Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[Nyder]

What should you put in a time capsule? Anything non-perishable that might mean something to you. Consider people recovering their time-capsules from 25 years ago. There might be a 5.25 floppy in there with someone's favorite childhood game. It may be difficult to play the game but the floppy disk's texture, smell, and label will bring back the memories. If you're going to store media you may find that in 25 years the data on it may be a pain in the ass to retrieve but the object itself will mean something. I also suggest media that you've used a lot. For example if you've been using a particular usb drive for the last year and it's time to upgrade put the old one in the capsule. 25 years from now the memories of using it are likely to bring you back more than the data that's on it.

I have picked up 25+ year old computer systems that work fine. Floppies that are that old, still retaining the info and working. And we are talking like sitting in an attic or garage or basement for many years. Not only do I and many others have systems that can read the info from 25+ years ago, i'm sure if you put stuff on CD/DVD's and maybe a thumbdrive, peeps will be able to get to it to check out.

Re:Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[grumbel]

USB is pretty much everywhere these days, in your phone, your game console, in your MP3 player, in your harddrive, in your TV, maybe even in your toaster. In Europe there it's even part of law, as they want to get rid of all the custom phone chargers. For mouse and keyboards you don't need anything faster then USB1.0, so there is no need to upgrade, so I would expect that to be around for a pretty damn long time, especially given that right now there is nothing on a the horizon to replace it and even if, whatever will replace it will very likely be either compatible or can be made compatible with a cheap adapter, just like you can still get a serial port and an IDE apdopter for your computer today.

The whole obsolete hardware craze is really a little overrated, as when it happened in the past, it was always with pretty damn obscure hardware. Of course not everybody has a machine around to read some old NASA tapes, so you will have trouble reading those in a few decades, but pretty damn near everybody has something around to read USB.

Re:Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[icebike]

Acid-free archival paper should be good, even for photos. Look at what the manufacturer says - they mean serious business when they make these papers, real art will be put up in museums reproduced on them.

We are talking 25 years here.
You don't need to be particularly worried about printed documents, even photos, over that short period.

Go into any business that has been around for 30 or 40, or dig into some boxes in your attic or your parents attic, dig into the back of the file cabinets or storage boxes, and you will find documents much older than 25 years that are in perfect shape.

Acid free paper is for 100 years plus, and has been the norm for off the shelf office paper since the 60s or earlier. True archival paper is Alkaline paper, which has a life expectancy of over 1,000 years for the best paper and 500 years for average grades.

So for 25 years, no special precautions need be taken when using common commercial printing paper that you might buy at your local office supply store.

Even Newspapers can be saved for 25 years by simply bagging them in plastic, but it might be better to access the newspaper's web site and print the desired articles on you laser printer using standard office paper.

25 years is not that hard to do.

Re:Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[NFN_NLN]

I would consider using an airtight sealed case, oxygen absorber and a dessicant...

"Stuff" will last longer in the absence of oxygen. Try to replace the air with an inert gas or nitrogen. This is common in food preservation as well where vacuum sealing alone isn't enough. Sometimes the shape of grains or seeds leaves too much space for air.

What facilitates aging?
- Oxygen
  - Remove oxygen
  - Make air tight
- Water
  - Remove moisture
  - Make water tight
- Light
  - Remove light sources ?
  - Make light tight
- Excessive heat
  - Remove heat sources
  - Shield from heat
- ...
- ...
- Time
  - Put in box and accelerate to near the speed of light

Re:Put stuff in sealed plastic cases?

[papa248]

Agreed. 25 years is no biggie. When I worked for Fitzimmons, we had blue prints for John Deere tractors going back to the 50s. (This was in 2008). Store *data* in a couple of formats, use high-quality CDs/DVDs, use a good thumb drive, and maybe even an SSD. Store all in a moisture barrier bag (check Uline) with dessicant, and seal. They are also ESD compliant. You'll be fine. I just had to buy a bunch of ICs* made in 1990 that were stored as such, and they work just fine.

* I work for a contract electronics manufacturer that is based in the US

Hermetic Seals

[iamscottevil]

Be careful about your hermetic seals, water leakage has turned many time capsules into a soggy brown liquid. I suggest some silica gel (the kind you shouldn't eat) to absorb any latent water in the air when you seal it so you don't get condesation. Anything you seal inside should either be readable by normal human means or include the reader. Avoid batteries or other volatile chemicals as they will leak. Burned CDs are really just like polaroid photographs and fade in about 15 years on the outset depending on the burn speed and qualities of the dyes. Include black and white photos or 3 color separations so that it is easy to put back together. Same goes for 3d photos, the future is likely to use more stereo photography so take a picture with 2 cameras next to each other of the same type. I use two iphones and tap the shutters simultanously a few times to see if I can get a match. Make sure you deposit the item in a place unlikely to face future development or it will just be shoveled up onto a trash pile. There's a start, but think long term. A lot can happen in a quarter century. LONGNOW DOT ORG

Re:The CD format has been around a long time

[oxdas]

It is not a format. CD's (and DVD's) you buy in the store are not made the same way as CD's you burn at home. Professionally made CD's have the disk image physically pressed into the media, whereas with home burning a laser is discoloring a dye to produce the same effect. Unfortunately, the dye will eventually fade and the disk will become unreadable. So, CD's are not the same as CD-R or CD-RW and the same holds true for DVD's.

You'll be in your seventies...?

[drkim]

1. Keep it low tech:
Assuming you graduated college at 21, you'll be around 71, you won't be that interested in figuring out high-tech stuff. It won't be long until the tech we have now is obsolete, because the rate of change continues to accelerate. Try finding a punch card reader these days.
Print stuff out on paper, regular paper works fine for only 25 years. Add a desiccant, and pump in nitrogen or argon if you can.

2. Redundancy:
Many of you will be dead and many will have lost their memory.
Print out a copy for everyone. Everybody gets one. Store in metal boxes clearly labeled on the outside so you don't have to keep opening it to see what it is.

3. Locators:
Include a list of everybody who gets a box in the box. Include personal identifiers (full names, DOBs) so you can track people down on the Internet (or whatever it is called 25 years from now.)

You may find 25 years from now that there are already records or copies of whatever you put in the box* but the greatest treasure will be locating your old buddies.

*Most people who open time capsules find old newspapers. The exact same newspapers which are also in storage in the newspaper office down the street. Probably when you open your box in 25 years you can find everything you put inside still on eBay.

Good luck!

Re:Macbook Pro (retina)

[inasity_rules]

Everything is DC? Your fridge? Your stove? Geyser? Vacuum cleaner? Washer? Dryer? Everything high power is AC. What may happen is we may standardize that brick. Maybe centralize it in the house. But AC will remain, and rightly so. It is far more efficient to transmit and change voltages with AC. Also AC motors do have some advantages.