What is the safest archive media ?

I wouldn't discount the use of quality DVDs. They have the advantage of offering a wide range of storage options, totally flexible, such as many different case or sleeve sizes, splitting them into different locations etc.

The main degradation that I have heard can affect these is caused by the use of cheap or the wrong type of marker pen to write on them. But there are software solutions that can aid in increasing reliability also, certainly beyond the normal lifespan of a hard drive.

I have been using DL (double layer) dvds, 8gb each, which is a very practical amount of space per disk when backing up photos. I have been using Maxell DL discs, not expensive, but they have a quality gold surface to resist ink absorption,and my Nero Burning Rom software offers a 'securedisc' feature. This offers a 'data integrity check' giving warning of when it would be a good time make another backup. Heres their webpage with some explanation of this link.

I used to back up on DVDs until it got too much of a PITA. DVDs don't hold enough data. trying to back up 2TB of data onto DVDs is not for the feint hearted Plus it takes up an awful lot of physical space

I'm not sure how long a stored away hard drive will last. A quick bit of research showed at least 20 years or so. I can't see a stored away DVD lasting longer.

The other issue is having something to read the media after so many years. I always keep my old computers. Got a few in the loft.

I think whether you use HDDs, DVDs, Tape drives or whatever, it's certainly good to transfer the data onto something newer every few years.

You need to check if the Capacitors are OK?
Have they bulged or leaked?
If they have you could buy replacements whilst they are still
available, even if you don't fit them now.

You mean electrolytic capacitors. Yup always worth a check, but not something to get overly concerned about. I've got synthesisers 30 years old that still work with original electrolytics.

Given the multilayer PCBs used on motherboards though it's not worth gettign a soldering iron out to. Easier and safer to buy a secondhand board off eEbay IMHO

Nothing lasts forever though

No it doesn't. Nor do we. We never had such an obsession over our negatives and if they were lost, that was it. Digital archives are fine, but the weakness is that they need constant maintenance. Stop checking them and after a few years no one will bother with them again. Give me a box of old negatives and I might leaf through them casually and scan and process one that catches my eye. There's no such situation with digital backups.

If we want absolute archiving, then it might be best to copy all the images to archivally processed black and white film. How many old episodes of Doctor Who have only been saved because of 16mm film copies?

I hasten to add that I'm not actually suggesting that we do make such copies of all our images!

Hi all,

A PS really from a photographe
r friend at The National Gallery for 30 years.

Their archiving concerns were the same a they were having failures with early CD/DVD media. For any disc media they burn to they NEVER write or print on on the discs even with apprcved pens.

Try getting a board that will let you access a Tape Drive Backup that needs an ISA Slot

Most boards used capacitors made to a stolen formula that wasn't
correct so they only lasted about 3 years.

http://www.thenakedpc.com/dan/Bulging_Capacitors/index.html

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/leaking-capacitors-muck-up-motherboa...

And that is the problem with all media. They eventually become redundant.

The BBC Domesday Project was very nearly lost when they realised there were no more Laserdisk players. Try finding an 8" or 5¼" floppy drive these days.

And even file formats will become redundant. Nothing is or ever will be totally safe.

(And frankly I wouldn't trust even a single layer DVD-R as far as I could throw it. [Although they do tend to go quite a long way] ).

That's your problem Gareth, your supposed to write your files and them store them safely, they're not intended to double up as frisbees when walking the dog

I store all my images in a thing called a brian or is that brain never could spell.
When i decompose they just have to remove said thingy and keep it in a jar of formaldehyde, connect me to the national gride and bobs your uncle, saved for all time or untill the shilling runs out in the meter.
Cheers
Dave

I have one in the loft


Most boards?

Well you and your old friends may not have but I was careful to archive all my negatives and catalogue them. Something that's enabled me to digitally scan them and even date most of them to the exact day I took them.


Why not? If many of us odler peeps are goign abck and workign on pics we took 30 years ago, why won't people in 30 years time want to go back and process pics they took today?


And Dad's Army.

But that's not because film was the only secure medium it was becuase the tight fisted BBC erased the video tape master copies for re-use. Makes me angry that does!

Tape can last decades if stored properly. although some does require baking before playback to avoid oxide shredding.

Yes, it makes me angry too Smeggypants.

The old tapes have been a nnightmare though, when something has been available to play them back at all. Neglect.

And that's the point I'm making. A film negative, properly stored, is just there. In 50 years it will still, all things being equal, still there. If neglected and stored improperly it may well still be there.

Digital archives need constant maintenance and become redundant as technology changes.

It's not a suggestion that we should archive everything to film - there's too much digital imaging about for it ever to be seen by future generations aprt from in snippets. It's just a thought that we shouldn't become too obsessive over something we can't win.

Normal care and a backup copy, but some things will become lost.

I notice that there's not much enthusiasm for Cloud storage, which I feel will last as long as the company that's trying to make a profit out of it. Until they change their business model. Until they make a blunder and delete everything in error.

Which bring us back to the point that the safest storage solution is to use as many as practical and possible.

It really depends on what value you place on your images. You could have them stored in 50 different media in 50 different locations but that would be expensive and a lot of work. And probably not appropriate for an out of focus picture of your foot you took by mistake.

But if you only have one fading photograph of a deceased beloved grandparent then it might be worth spending a lot of money to make a high quality copy and back the digital file up in a couple of locations.