In many instances it is software, particularly when the application is proprietary. If the software uses reasonably standardized formats and structures, for example images stored as TIFF or JPEG files, it's the hardware. Absent quality control issues during manufacture or excessively negligent practices in media handling (keeping them on the front seat of your car), media will almost always last longer than the hardware or the software. I still have readable 5.25" floppy disks - or at least they were readable when I checked 2 years ago before my last 5.25" floppy drive gave up the ghost....
For 30-50 years it is almost guaranteed that the hardware will be the most significant issue, because things that are being stored for 30 years are generally saved in either standard or de facto standard formats like TIFF or PDF. Nobody keeps ZIP drives that long and the hardware will wear out long before 50 years comes.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of myself and no other company, organization, association, entity, or board of directors,
Jesse Wilkins, CRM, CDIA+, ecmm, emmm, ermm
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