Digital Pic storage, advice needed.

5-90 said:
Hm - intriguing. Do we know what the usual mode of failure happens to be? Or are you going to keep me in suspense and make me have to dig for myself?:read:

You name it: file inaccessible, file doesn't exist,, file is corrupt, can't mount the volume at all. Any/all of the above.
 
lowrange2 said:
I have never had a problem with losing data from dvds. Before I had all these hard drives I backed up on DVDs. I keep the dvds in cases in a temp controlled room of course. As long as they're no scratchs I don't see why you would lose data. All 50 or so DVDs still contain all my data.

We'll check back with you in 2012 or so... If you don't keep migrating to new tech it can be an issue.
 
Root Moose said:
You name it: file inaccessible, file doesn't exist,, file is corrupt, can't mount the volume at all. Any/all of the above.

But what causes this?... I do notice a difference between cheap dvds and more quality dvds.
 
I forget the specifics but it boils down to the grade of the media used (quality) AND the way the disks are written in the first place. If you do a google search on "dvd media archive" there should be some info.

It truly is a wonder any of this stuff at all sometimes.
 
Like I said if you cheap out and go to Sam's and get 10,000 cds for 10 bucks you can't hardly expect it to be a reliable storage source.

I just feel like External hard drives are the best, most reliable souce of storage. I mean which kind of storage IS the best. There is a downside to all of them... I feel that the only way to be safe is to back-up to multiple places and storage types. For home and office I use my hard drives as well as I back-up to an off site server.
 
Root Moose said:
You name it: file inaccessible, file doesn't exist,, file is corrupt, can't mount the volume at all. Any/all of the above.

Looks like I'll have to dig into it. Granted, I flatly refuse to use cheap media (TDK is about as cheap as I get,) but I've not had any trouble with CDs I've burned 10 years ago. Can't say that DVD's last that long - same rules on media, but I've not got that sort of depth of experience with recordable DVDs. Yet.

But no, I've never been one to use cheap media. That's probably why some of the floppy disks I've had to use still work - after 10-15 years. Careful selection of media, and reasonably careful storage practices...
 
lowrange2 said:
I just feel like External hard drives are the best, most reliable souce of storage. I mean which kind of storage IS the best. There is a downside to all of them... I feel that the only way to be safe is to back-up to multiple places and storage types. For home and office I use my hard drives as well as I back-up to an off site server.

This is how the pros (libraries, museums) deal with the problem.

I also have a couple TB of RAID spinning in my workshop that I use for snap shots. The shop is not attached to the house (about 30 ft away) so hoping that suffices for off-site. The copy out there only goes once a month. Thank goodness for gigabit ethernet.
 
5-90 said:
But no, I've never been one to use cheap media. That's probably why some of the floppy disks I've had to use still work - after 10-15 years. Careful selection of media, and reasonably careful storage practices...

In my experience it's just a matter of time before you get burned - good quality media or not.
 
Root Moose said:
This is how the pros (libraries, museums) deal with the problem.

I also have a couple TB of RAID spinning in my workshop that I use for snap shots. The shop is not attached to the house (about 30 ft away) so hoping that suffices for off-site. The copy out there only goes once a month. Thank goodness for gigabit ethernet.

I use a company across town that stores everything of mine via the intraweb.
 
Here is my solution to data storage: Local external harddrive that automatically backs up any modified files. 2. Monthly copy of that external hard drive stored in fireproof safe at seperate site (actually two harddrives in the safe so that there is always a drive in there). Paranoia is the rule!

Note about Optical data storage: the DVD-R's and CD-Rs you burn on your computer are temporary. The die medium that you "burn" is only expected to last 15 years in the proper storage area ( lightless, climate controled, etc...) If they are exposed to any thing that time drops rapidly. The DVDs and CDs you buy with media on them are actually pressed metal plates that will last much longer. There are a lot of articles on the tech sites about this... As well as many tales of woe..
 
Metal Thrasher said:
Here is my solution to data storage: Local external harddrive that automatically backs up any modified files. 2. Monthly copy of that external hard drive stored in fireproof safe at seperate site (actually two harddrives in the safe so that there is always a drive in there). Paranoia is the rule!

Thats kinda what I do... minus the fireproof box.
 
5-90 said:
Hm - intriguing. Do we know what the usual mode of failure happens to be? Or are you going to keep me in suspense and make me have to dig for myself?:read:
sorry...left work and just got done with dinner. but i see the answer has already been taken care of. thanks metal thrasher...

Metal Thrasher said:
Note about Optical data storage: the DVD-R's and CD-Rs you burn on your computer are temporary. The die medium that you "burn" is only expected to last 15 years in the proper storage area ( lightless, climate controled, etc...) If they are exposed to any thing that time drops rapidly. The DVDs and CDs you buy with media on them are actually pressed metal plates that will last much longer. There are a lot of articles on the tech sites about this... As well as many tales of woe..


this guy was using the high dollar archival quality media that was supposed to last an extra 10-15 years. his failed with only 1 previous read attempt (to verify valid burn of disk) so it wasn't being abused. and it was stored away from UV light, in a somewhat climate controlled area, and not handled. still started to fail in less than 2 years time.

in my line of work, my group is responsible for the electronic storage of all of our companies scanned documents, faxed documents, and edi feeds. we're way beyond terabytes in a company this size. redundancy is the only way to safely store documents. we used to use optical platters in a big ole jukebox. but because we had to replace these drives so often, we switched to a raided hdd setup. not your average hdds though. very nice optical connections etc. but they're raided on site, and we have a dr (disaster recovery) site several states away as well as a quasi-hot backup at a local data safe company. those tape backups get revolved out every other day.
 
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