NORSAM

Chris Flynn

On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 2:05 PM, Hugh Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> When we first started building media vaults we were concerned with the
> proper storage conditions for media storage.  In eht 1980’s were were very
> concerned with protecting media and microfilm.
>
> When we contacted Dr. Adelstein to ask how he stored his media samples to
> determine their longevity as they stated at the time 30% RH at 68º as I
> recall.  Temperature is easy but holding humidity at such a low level for a
> long period of time with no fluctuation was problematic!
>
> So we asked how he did it and he replied that they cut the microfilm up
> into strips, placed them in bell jars and dropped the humidity to 30% and
> then sealed the jars and then stored those jars in a properly cooled (not
> humidity controlled) environment. That works for tis but it is not a
> solution for archival storage.
>
> It was a game changer.  We had to develop special moisture barriers and
> special vault doors and the ability to safely condition a vault. Concrete
> as a media vault became ridiculous as concrete walls wick in moisture
> almost as fast as you remove it.
>
> Typical air conditioning cannot drop the humidity to 30% on a summer day.
> And then the low humidity of winter created it owns problems as site up
> north could drop to 15% to 20% on extremely cold days.
>
> As the one post referred to looking for the diamond ring in the light, it
> is also silly to test media in bell jars and low humidity if you cannot
> create that environment in the real world.  We solved that problem with
> dessicant wheel dehumidification ( Munters CargoCair units) and while that
> is expensive it lowered the air conditioning equipment cost and greatly
> lowered the power costs.
>
> Media is affected by oxidation (everything is), bacteria and light
> radiation, solar flare activity and the people developing the media never
> look for the unified solution. No one is handling this stuff with white
> cotton gloves.  In 30+ years of vaulting, we continually run into new risk
> sets. The people on the ISO committees never seem to look at a cross
> section of the real world.  Solutions developed in Bell Jars and Labs don’t
> work if they are not common and affordable in the real world. Seldom are
> storage environments built by people who really know what they are doing.
>
> CD’s are really only concerned with the first millimeter as that is where
> the directory is.  It takes special software to move into the CD and read
> it and recategorize it if your handling affects the outer and most
> vulnerable edge. Density makes them want to use every millimeter but
> couldn’t they place the index of what is stored on the disk in the middle
> of the disk. Even the storage cases are designed to inflect abuse on the
> outer edge.
>
> Until someone develops a media that is first durable, then cheap and then
> high density will they get it right. Those who get it right are rejected by
> the IT people.  The new LTO5 Media and beyond seem to be heading in the
> right direction.  But the Cloud doesn’t want to see new drag and drop, low
> cost and durable media because it is everything they are not.  Simply
> because the LTO5 and newer and be stored offsite in secure media vaults and
> make the Google, IBM, Dell Cloud models look an accident waiting to happen.
>
> Plus how does the fact that the NSA, CIA and the data center storage in
> the Utah Data Center affect everything. Hackers are most likely in there as
> there was no special effort to make it secure first prior to loading it
> with every bit of our nation’s data. The government’s efforts here are a
> risk to American business at a level unrealized until now. They used the
> highest tech to stop low tech terrorists and now opened all of us to
> identity theft, corporate identity theft at a scale no corporation is
> capable of protecting against.  They used poor foresight in developing this
> listen in technology because IT people don’t think about risks just volume
> and speed and Utah is that in spades.
>
> Nuclear weapons helped end the War in the Pacific and opened a Pandora’s
> Box of unimaginable consequences.  The Federal Government’s data gathering
> has put all the golden eggs of our government and our economic engine in a
> road side fruit stand with a cigar box cash register.  That works here in
> rural Pennslania but not in the big cities. It does not work in an
> environment where China, Russia and the hacker nations see an open market
> on our information assets.
>
> The Cloud is a huge open window to vital information, the government’s
> mining of it and our phone information just make it so easy to steal. While
> we do this our enemies create archives to move off line.
>
> How are you as the records manager or information governance expert
> solving this problem?  ISO offers a disjointed look on storage versus
> security, IT offers a speed and density model devoid of security and our
> government is the worst of all as it develops technology that is outdated
> before they can roll it out. No algorythmn of encryption has been able to
> stand up to a government directed hack. Keys can be stolen, centralization
> just creates the greatest thrill for the hacker and all our efforts to hide
> the puzzle pieces are confounded by a government that goes around
> collecting them and storing them in their hives.
>
> I would like to see the governance experts take a global picture of the
> problem and work backward. The CIA and NSA just made moving data offline
> sexy as hell because anything digital and still online is at risk. I see a
> role here for governance people to point out the King has no clothes and
> push our government to create distributed storage with linkage only
> available by an Amish wagon dragging tapes from one data center to another.
>
> People do not understand the Amish but guess what?  No one knows what they
> are doing? Ahh the old is new again.
>
> Hugh Smith
> FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
> [log in to unmask]
> (610) 756-4440    Fax (610) 756-4134
> WWW.FIRELOCK.COM
>
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