> From: Jesse Wilkins <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: RAINsprinkle: Storage expert warns of short life span for
> burned CDs
>
> http://computerworld.com/hardwaretopics/storage/story/
> 0,10801,107607,00.html
Excerpt from Computer World:
> Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland GmbH,
> takes this view: If you want to avoid having to burn new CDs every few
> years, use magnetic tapes to store all your pictures, videos and songs
> for a lifetime.
>
> "Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life
> span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the
> CD," Gerecke said in an interview this week. "There are a few things
> you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in
> a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more."
> To overcome the preservation limitations of burnable CDs, Gerecke
> suggests using magnetic tapes, which, he claims, can have a life span
> of 30 to 100 years, depending on their quality. "Even if magnetic
> tapes are also subject to degradation, they're still the superior
> storage media," he said.
>
See we have been talking about the fragility of media for a long time
and a physicist is just now figuring it out.
He fails to mention how fragile tape is if it is dropped, the computer
drive mechanisms are not properly maintained and how important
stability of temperature and humidity are to longevity.
Also, the problem with tape has always been that technology changes and
you have to keep migrating the data to new formats. Migration is the
only answer to longevity in the computer world which then relates back
to who is monitoring the retention schedule to alert management that
changing from 11" reels to 3480 is a problem and then the switch to
Ultriums is another and so forth.
If the Physicists really cared about media they would quit making media
that degrades so quickly and especially quit making it so that it
disappears at lower and lower temperatures while making computers that
run hotter and hotter. Every crash is a grenade with the pin pulled as
you back up a tape by loading it to equipment that runs so hot that it
further degrades the back up tape. Some of the new media is damaged at
90º F. ( for our German Physicist that is only 33º C. ). What were
they thinking??
At least with CD's right now you can load to hard drive and easily
recreate a brand new and fresh CD. Will the tape you create for
longevity be readable in 10 years at any reasonable cost?
In short, no computer equipment or media manufacturer invites a records
manager to the design planning meeting or they would start with "What's
the life span of this media" and "What will it be exposed to on each
and every use?"
At least old CD's make good coasters but what do you do with old tapes?
Oh, I forgot Skeet Shooting.
I apologize if I have offended the following people in this post:
1) Physicists
2) Germans
3) Martha Stewart ( I thought the CD's were avante garde? She is so
picky! )
4) Skeet Shooters
I do not apologize to the media manufacturers and computer designers
who keep their eye focused on speed but not ever longevity!
But then again, their lame products require storage in a vault
specifically designed to create ideal storage conditions, Class 125
protection and precise environmental control. But if they want to stop
these rants, just THINK! Hey didn't IBM come up with the THINK poster
back in the 60's? Or was it RODAN?
Hugh
Hugh Smith
FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
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(610) 756-4440 Fax (610) 756-4134
WWW.FIRELOCK.COM
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