Annemarie,

When estimating media life time you should also take into account the
hardware and software serviceability.

This would not be such a problem for DVD or CD as they are well established
standards, but bulk storage media such as magnetic tape change every few
years.

Although software vendors try to keep data formats backwardly compatible, as
time progresses they often drop support for older formats.

So it is conceivable that in 20 years time although you have a DLT that is
theoretically readable that you might find it hard to source a DLT drive and
appropriate software to restore it.

Gerard
TapeTrack Pty Ltd

-----Original Message-----
From: Annemarie Toth-Waddell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2004 5:17 AM
Subject: Storage media lifetimes

I'm looking for an authoritative source of information on the expected
lifetimes of various types of electronic storage media, such as CDs, DVDs,
magnetic tape, etc.

Can anyone help with this.  I've seen this type of information in articles,
but not in a format that would be suitable for distribution to staff.

Thanks,
Annemarie
Annemarie Toth-Waddell
Information Access Manager & RIM Manager for the Legislative Assembly,
Information Resources Branch, Legislative Library of the Legislative
Assembly of Ontario,
(416) 314-8515
Fax (416) 314-8541
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