Tom Says: Safe code is boring code!
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The first line is quite tongue-in-cheek.
The problem with using CDs like you say is that we don't know if they're going to last 10 years, or even that out of three copies one of them will last 10 years, because crazy stuff happens to them. Plus, I've got so much stuff that it would take DVD after DVD after DVD to hold even one copy...
rsync slows down because every time I run it, it still has to, on both ends, read all of the old data and compare it to be sure that there are no differences. I tried having it compare by timestamp and got some pretty funky corruption, so I copy this way to be safe. Since I have a laptop and don't have my external drive plugged in all the time, I can't perform the backups automatically in the background. So the mindless minutes of scanning old data has slowly been wearing away at my patience...
What about solid state media? (i.e. flash memory)
I don't know. My information on new hardware is pretty non-existent; have they been around long enough to be tested?
Not sure. I doubt it. I think of them more akin to disks. But better I think. Especially if you're using them just for storage. You're young, and so is technology. I think that as the technology changes, you choice of storage will probably as well. Keep it somewhere where it will be easy to transfer to better, more efficient storage when the time is right. For me, that place now would be in solid state form. I could be wrong, but I guess I wont find out for a few years! :)
If you leave a magnetic disk in storage for that long without turning it on the hard drive may fail when you try to use it again, moving parts in the drive are not designed to be 'not moving,' for a lack of a better term, for super extended periods.
So what's the answer? I'm wondering if an online backup service might be worthwhile, although the price may not work out in the long term.
Posted by Erek at Dec 24, 2007, in the late, late night
I don't know whether to take your "we have it hard" comment as sarcastic as not. I mean sure digital data is that crazy volatile series of 1s and 0s, but I think all of that is made up for in terms of reproducibility.
It doesn't matter if I can only have a cd for 10 years if I can have 3 of them as easy as 1 and refresh the data to a new (probably better) CD 10 years later. Of course, hard drives are much better, because as you said, DVD/CDs are just prone to scratches. The ones I store in cases which never are touched seem to have scratches the next time I look. :(
I think the system you propose is painless enough that it outweighs all the things which kill priceless paper manuscripts like fire and whatnot.
Unlike your system, my haphazard wild ways won't allow me to store the long term stuff in lock boxes. I'd have to have them propping up cabinets and the like just to keep things interesting.
p.s. I'm surprised rsync slows down that much for subsequent backups.