In the last class ( 4/17 ), questions came up about how to make sure your images are stored in a way that they’re going to last a long time. I’ll describe a few possibilities, provide some things to think about and then let you decide.
First, all media fail. Whether they are CDs, DVDs, hard drives … at some point these media fail, and they fail for a variety of reasons, some having nothing to do with anything. You have a lot of options, but the three big ones are HARD DRIVES, ARCHIVAL DVD/CD and ONLINE storage.
HARD DRIVES
Hard drives are great. They’re inexpensive – at the time of this writing anywhere between $.20 and .30 per Gigabyte(GB) , they easy to install and they’re FAST. Hard drives, can also fail and are prone to random failures, sometimes without warning or symptoms. Don’t trust long term data, one of a kind data, or data that is not hard copied or transferred to another media on a hard drive, period. If it is critically important, you should have a copy of it somewhere else – and NOT on the same hard drive.
ONLINE STORAGE
There are tons of services now getting started that will allow you to upload 100s of megabytes and even Gigabytes of data for free or very cheap. The only problem is these services are all new. How large will the list be in 10 years? It’s still a bet at this point, but if you really want to feel more secure about having your data somewhere online, go for it. Just read the privacy policies and if you can you should either encrypt your data before uploading it, or get a service that will do it for you. I personally like the offerings of streamload and box.net, but there are some really good offerings out there – here is a list to get you started.
ARCHIVAL CDs and DVDs
There are a lot of debates about how long CDs and DVDs will last. Your best bet with these media is to buy the best “archival” type you can. And if it is really important to you make two copies (my policy is to record one to DVD-R and one to DVD+R)/ Many manufacturers now make archival CDs and DVDs. Two that stand out are Verbatim and Maxell :Verbatim Archival DVDs
- Verbatim DVD w/ Videogard ( scratch resistant and archival ) DVD+R and DVD-R
- “UltraLife” DVD-R only
- You may have to go online to get hem
Maxell Archival CDs and DVDs
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’d like to reiterate :
- DO NOT TRUST HARD DRIVES FOR LONG TERM storage
- Make 2 copies of the important stuff onto the best media you can afford
- Be diligent about properly storing your media away from excessive heat, light and moisture ( i.e. put them in a safe )
You’ll be lucky to have a drive last 4 years, some people report hard drives lasting up to 8 years ( a rare event indeed ), and some people have had drives go out in the first 12 months. While drive stability has come a long way since the 90s, this is a media that is prone to many different kinds of failures. Don’t trust your ONLY COPY of anything on a hard drive for long. The moment you think nothing could go wrong, it does – I’m sure you’ve heard enough horror stories.
DVDs and CDs do go bad – and the cheap ones go faster than you can imagine. So check your disks every once in a while and if you spot problems, start migrating them to the best media you can quickly … I’ve had cheap discs go bad rapidly . Handle your discs carefully and avoid scratches, exposure to sun and other elements. Treat them well and they’ll probably last.
A SIMPLE STRATEGY
A simple strategy to employ is this :
- put short-term photo storage on hard drive ( up to 6 months )
- put mid-term storage on enterprise class hard drives and/or online storage
- put long term important storage on archival DVD ( up to 20 years )
- very long term storage for extremely important/rare photos : print them at a pro lab and put them away in a safe deposit box ( ~80+ years )
There are more complex strategies to employ. Email us for more information.
FAQ
Q: What is an “Enterprise Class Hard Drive”?
A: These are hard drives that are tested to undergo more extreme use in terms of hours and mode of operation. They’re often times rated to have fewer failures per thousands of hours of use, and many times have longer warranties than your average consumer class hard drive. They’ve been tested more thoroughly and some manufacturers put additional guarantees on error recovery and shock protection should you drop the drive ( though don’t expect miracles, dropping a hard drive is a traumatic event and can render any drive, consumer or enterprise, useless ). Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital all make these drives.
Q: What is “archival”?
A: Archival refers to the longevity of a media, given some ideal conditions and then some not so ideal conditions. What you need to remember here is that if archival isn’t mentioned in product, it’s probably not archival. Gold CDs and DVDs are generally considered archival, but you need to get the hard-coat as well to avoid any scratches from damaging the surface. You can expect at least 50 year life expectancy, probably 2x to 3x that much in reality.
