Well the solution is "punched paper tape". While the data density is terrible, it can survive for centuries if a PET film tape is used as the medium. These where once used for CNC machines (mills, lathes, etc) as they could survive many uses in a very harsh environment without destruction.
Even a paper tape reader could be included in the archive as they are small and could be easily repaired to replace any degraded electronics (think: "caps"), or enhanced to support whatever communications medium currently is being used.
Coupled with a really good ECC encoding and you have a very stable solution.
While data density is an issue, any small format storage is very fragile and subject to long term corruption.
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Well the solution is "punched paper tape". While the data density is terrible, it can survive for centuries if a PET film tape is used as the medium. These where once used for CNC machines (mills, lathes, etc) as they could survive many uses in a very harsh environment without destruction. Even a paper tape reader could be included in the archive as they are small and could be easily repaired to replace any degraded electronics (think: "caps"), or enhanced to support whatever communications medium currently is being used. Coupled with a really good ECC encoding and you have a very stable solution. While data density is an issue, any small format storage is very fragile and subject to long term corruption.