<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>Of course, good luck finding a controller for that 10 yr old IDE hard drive in another 30 years! Same problem for all this media to some extent though.<br><br><hr id="zwchr"><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>From: </b>"JD" <jdp@algoloma.com><br><b>To: </b>ale@ale.org<br><b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:16:26 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [ale] burning blu-ray discs<br><br>Thanks, but aren't HDDs for archival like - 40 yrs on a shelf?<br><br>My google-fu found this:<br>http://serverfault.com/questions/51851/does-an-unplugged-hard-drive-used-for-data-archival-deteriorate<br>which makes a case AGAINST using HDDs.<br><br>I've never had a HDD refuse to spin up after being on a shelf, but ... there is<br>always tomorrow. ;) There are probably a few 80G WDs around to test with -<br>they've been unplugged at least a decade - maybe longer.<br><br>Also - the cheap optical media I've used ($20/100 discs) doesn't seem to fail as<br>quickly as others report. Only about 5 discs have shown any bit errors since<br>2004-ish. The data is validated when retrieved using 10% par/par2 files. All<br>data has been reconstructed with the help of the par2 files so far.<br><br>So ... the m-disk stuff seems smarter for longer-term, important, storage. I'm<br>convinced. BTW - I didn't think that $140/25 25G discs was expensive - compared<br>to a spinning HDD - it is just a tiny bit more, but 5 yrs vs 100+ yrs? SOLD!<br><br>Wanted to ask about using SSDs for archival storage ... I have an unused 16G<br>SATA M.2 SSD - that should easily store any critical household records<br>"forever", right? ;) Since it is unused and doesn't have any moving parts - that<br>means "forever".<br><br><br><br>On 08/13/2014 03:40 PM, Jim Kinney wrote:<br>> The m-disk reads like a Cd/DVD/Blu-ray but the data doesn't degrade. It's<br>> extrapolated lifetime is 1000 years based on Navy stress testing.<br>> It's only for archival storage. Uses a special burner (that doesn't cost<br>> but maybe a few dollars more than a normal one) to write the disks. Any<br>> reader can read them.<br>> <br>> Typical lifetime of a spinning disk (in use) is 5-8 years (for enterprise<br>> grade, 24-7 on line). Tape's can last 20-30 years with proper storage (LTO6<br>> 2.5TB is rated for 30 years with proper storage and costs $60/tape - the<br>> drive is $4k)<br>> <br>> The mdisk is a specialty archival media. Think financial records, tax<br>> records, family records, etc. or 42 thousand pictures of your cats per<br>> blu-ray disk :-)<br>> <br>> <br>> On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 3:06 PM, JD <jdp@algoloma.com> wrote:<br>> <br>>> On 08/13/2014 10:25 AM, Jim Kinney wrote:<br>>>> M-Disc Bluray Recordable Media 25 GB Branded (25 Disc Pack) $130<br>>><br>>><br>>> Guess I'm just confused by optical media these days. It isn't cheaper,<br>>> isn't as<br>>> convenient, it isn't re-writable 100,000x AND costs more than a spinning<br>>> disk.<br>>><br>>> I suppose if there are HIPPA or other regulatory requirements, but in a<br>>> house?<br>>> What am I missing?<br>>><br>>> BTW, I have over 1,000 backup DVDs here (mix of 4.7 and 8G) ... but stopped<br>>> using optical when HDDs became less expensive. Slowly moving those to<br>>> 2+TB HDDs<br>>> that can be connected via a USB3 dock.<br>>><br>>> Can someone please enlighten me?<br>>><br>_______________________________________________<br>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale<br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br>http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo<br></div><br></div></body></html>