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Talking with an older photographer this morning. He wanted some info on long term media storage. He is currently using CDs and flash drives.
I did some research a few years ago and didn't find any one solution. CDs, external HDs, zip drive, off site server...
What is the best option for archiving/backing up computer info long term?
TIA [Beer]
Tape, but it can get pricey.
Redundent Hard drives / Mirror or raid.
http://backblaze.com
http://aws.amazon.com/s3 (requires some degree of technical experience)
http://edgecast.com storage service (ftp)
http://drobo.com <- local storage, make raid easy.
H.
Personally I'm a big fan of DropBox (www.dropbox.com), gives me access to my data from EVERYWHERE. That and I have Carbonite as well to do online backups.
Long term? Not gonna happen.
No matter what, you will have to copy the data from media to media over time. I've got tapes in my desk that I don't have a drive for, and can't even remember what software was used for the backups. DVDs and CDs only last a certain number of years. Hard drives can always die, online services can go out of business, etc.
Best thing I'd do now would be use 2 separate USB hard drives both with all the same data on them, and realize I want to replace them every 3 years.
My personal strategy is a local drobo with 4 disks for primary storage. The drobo gets backed up monthly to external 2tb drives that I rotate off-site. Important stuff (ie not music/movies) gets backed up to the cloud. Very important stuff (taxes, legal, financial) is in truecrypt containers on all four.
I also scan most anything useful I get on paper gets scanned straight into Evernote, where they turn it into a PDF and run OCR over it so that it's searchable. Important stuff from that gets into the TC containers.
I also use truecrypt whole disk protection on everything I can, since I have lots of PII on users from all the services I work on.
Remember, you always have one less copy of your data than you think you do.
H.
Online storage will not work for him. Dial-up is a bitch.
Some of the online options are new to me but it sounds like the same answers I came up with. Nothing is forever. Dropbox looks interesting.
Thanks!
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Great customer service
PC/MAC/*NIX Friendly
Optical Media (CD/DVD) is given a lifespan in the 30-100 year range if stored properly ( room temp low humidity in a case so on and so on handle as little as possible and store "off site" )....
I'm not sure you would need them to last much longer then that .. seeing as in 5 years or so you would probably change them to a newer better tech ( such as bluray or whatever comes next )
I have personally stored everything in my head. I do have a rental service if you are interested. Storage is somewhat limited. It does run at a premium price but unlike digital my mind can adapt. It is however subject to certain things such as alcohol, memory loss and other un-intended consequences due to life. If you are interested in purchasing long term storage in my mind please PM me.
glad this thread popped up, because I want to get some external storage for my documents and pictures and videos. byte sent me the newegg stuff but I am having a hard time getting around the cost. I think I would be happier with a 1tb or larger external drive and hope it holds out.