Perhaps the ideal solution isn't here yet. I've read that optical discs on the order 100GB are just about a few years away.
Below is my list of the shortest to longest shelf lives (estimated) and their problem(s)
1. IDE Drive (2-4 years)
- chemically,magnetically,mechanically dependent
- lubricant gets old
- may have degradation
- cheap price and cheap drives
2. SCSI Drive (5-10 years)
- Chemically,magnetically,mechanically dependent
- same as above, but better stuff
(Seagate cheetah 1.2 million MTBF)
- expensive for large capacities
3. Tape Media (15-20 years, in good condition)
- magnetically and mechanically dependent
- the tape falls victim to temperature but the
vxa drive combats that the packet technology
- drives are expensive and tapes are somewhat affordable
4. Solid state (50? years)
- magnetically (and electrically) dependent
- The electrons can move over time and cause
data degredation
- expensive and only in small capacities
5. Optical media
- optically dependant (thermal negligible)
- comes in small capacities.
The best of this list is to put them on cd's and put them in a box. we just have to wait to larger capacities to come around.
Disk drives and solid state devices are meant for online storage. Tapes are meant for backup and does somewhat ok (I think that the F-14 flight recorders use DLT).
I right now, I'll probably use tape (vxa) for backup until the large capacity optical drives come out with smaller beams and such.
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Perhaps the ideal solution isn't here yet. I've read that optical discs on the order 100GB are just about a few years away. Below is my list of the shortest to longest shelf lives (estimated) and their problem(s) 1. IDE Drive (2-4 years) - chemically,magnetically,mechanically dependent - lubricant gets old - may have degradation - cheap price and cheap drives 2. SCSI Drive (5-10 years) - Chemically,magnetically,mechanically dependent - same as above, but better stuff (Seagate cheetah 1.2 million MTBF) - expensive for large capacities 3. Tape Media (15-20 years, in good condition) - magnetically and mechanically dependent - the tape falls victim to temperature but the vxa drive combats that the packet technology - drives are expensive and tapes are somewhat affordable 4. Solid state (50? years) - magnetically (and electrically) dependent - The electrons can move over time and cause data degredation - expensive and only in small capacities 5. Optical media - optically dependant (thermal negligible) - comes in small capacities. The best of this list is to put them on cd's and put them in a box. we just have to wait to larger capacities to come around. Disk drives and solid state devices are meant for online storage. Tapes are meant for backup and does somewhat ok (I think that the F-14 flight recorders use DLT). I right now, I'll probably use tape (vxa) for backup until the large capacity optical drives come out with smaller beams and such.