[Cialug] long term storage

[Todd Walton]

On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 10:48 AM, Zachary Kotlarek<zach at kotlarek.com> wrote:
> While others might disagree, I'm convinced the right solution of long-term
> archiving is either:
>        A) Keep the material as part of your active data set, so it's in your
> normal storage and hits your normal backups. You might need to take some
> care that it doesn't accidentally get deleted (see short-term archives
> above), but if it's part of your active data set there's no reason to worry
> about archival in the first place, as the data will automatically be
> transfered around as you upgrade your primary storage through the years.
>        B) Acquiesce to updating your archive on a regular basis -- once
> couple of years or so. While there's no great long-term solution for digital
> storage, given the possible decay of media, change of
> interfaces/formats/etc., it is exceedingly easy to simply make a second copy
> once in a while. Then if 5 years from now USB ports or optical drives are
> disappearing, or your original media is revealed to have only a 4-year life
> span, or JPEG is out-of-fashion it will be no big deal. The other part
> round-about benefit to archive maintenance is that, as storage devices
> continue to grow, your annual archive refresh might well lead you back to
> option A, where archival isn't necessary in the first place because your
> "archive" data size is small compared to your primary storage capacity.

So, either way, the point is that you must pay attention to your data.
 Sounds sensible to me.  I've kept all my email since 2001 or 2002,
and sometimes I go back through it and I'll discover some gem.  I'll
think "Yes, I've discovered this, but what all stuff have I *not*
discovered, and what use is it if I don't know it's there?"

--
Todd