Posted by Bill Anderson on 08/07/06 22:08

Tim V. wrote:
> "Long John" <mcranch@pacific.net> wrote in
> news:12d5ph24gvhdj4a@corp.supernews.com:
>
>> "Bob" <spam@uce.gov> wrote in message
>> news:44a66f3c.80777218@news-server.houston.rr.com...
>>> On Sat, 01 Jul 2006 07:27:15 -0400, Rick Merrill
>>> <rick0.merrill@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>> OK, then buy the most expensive discs, but let us know that you are
>>>>> planning to do that so we will know.
>>>> And call back in 20 years to see how it all worked out!-)
>>> Pretty soon flash memory is going to be priced so cheaply that we can
>>> afford to archive using it. For now the only safe way to know your
>>> content will be around in 20 years is to put it on a hard disk.
>> But will the hard drives of today even function 20 years from now..?
>>
>> Will computers in the future have compatible connections..?
>>
>> Back in 1984 I started out using Wordstar in a Morrow cpm machine
>> that used EIGHT INCH FLOPPIES, and the Seagate ST225 (20 Mb)
>> was barely invented... How many machines today can accomodate an
>> 8" floppy, or for that matter, a ST225 drive ..?
>>
>> As a broadcaster who has seen celluloid film crumble with age, I'd do
> 3
>> redundant
>> Data Disk backups at a slower burn speed "just to make sure"...
>>
>
> Point taken, but things are becoming more modular. Stuff like the
> memory card readers that use USB connectors to hook up. They'll be
> compatible for a longer period of time than the 8" froppies (I remember
> using them!) were. I've already moved stuff off my old 5.25" froppies
> to 3.5" floppies, then to hard disk, then to cdr's.
>
> I think we need to accept the fact that if we want to save things for
> 20+ years, we'll have to periodically change the media they are saved
> on.
>
>
>

Yeah. And great-grandma's photo album and letters tied in ribbon still
work just like they always did. If the purpose of our collections is
preservation for future generations, are we really making progress?

--
Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog

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