Hooch Tan
03-28-2009, 08:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/should-you-worry-about-data-rot/' target='_blank'>http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009...about-data-rot/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Data rot refers mainly to problems with the medium on which information is stored. Over time, things like temperature, humidity, exposure to light, being stored not-very-good locations like moldy basements, make this information very difficult to read."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1238258777.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Your data is important. From bank records to movies to precious pictures, you probably store a lot of that stuff on your computer. Some of us, including some who have learned the hard way, back up our data. But unfortunately, simply backing up or archiving data is not enough. As time goes on, all archival media degrades from old school paper and photos to Travan tapes and punch cards. Sometimes even the technology to access that media gets lost. David Pogue raises the concern that few to none are working on develop a long term storage technology. One specialist even recommends migrating your data to a newer medium every 5-10 years! I don't know if I have the resources and time to do that for the rest of my life, but I do have data that I've kept for the past 15-20 years that's gone through several media changes. Has anyone come up with a novel way of long term storage?</p>