True enough about the unknown longterm reliability of optical media.
I use it for project archives, and have had good luck so far (knock
on wood). I can certainly imagine putting hard disks in the vault
too, and imagine I'll go this way one of these days. Wiebetech makes
a firewire/usb2 adapter for raw ATA drive mechanisms which seems
perfect for the task:
http://www.wiebetech.com/products.html#drivedockproducts
My sound library originates on DAT and MD, with originals filed away;
the working library is on firewire drives with a redundant backup.
146GB as of today. It's selectively backed up to DVD-R as well.
In the long term, support does tend to be a fiction. Products cease
to be produced; companies disappear. This is why I use commodity
formats - it's more likely there will be some kind of support down
the road. (Everybody better copy your stuff off of those ultra-cool
3.5" floppy disks now!)
Sometimes it seems like technology in general is a carefully
constructed fiction... the closer you get to the metal, the more you
realize that it's amazing this stuff works at all.
-j
>Not a unique situation for me to be in the minority.
>
>CD-R, DVD-R can not be verified easily as to the integrity of the
>archive. Shelf life both before and after burn are now known to be
>well under what was promised. I have not seen one source of CD
>hardware that isn't set on marketing the only issues as being speed
>and size. What I care about is life.
>
>So where I am right now is in external hard drive storage. Easily
>refreshed and easily checked for quality of storage. For more size
>and ease in transfer to the mirror I want compression. It just so
>happens right now that the best compression is also free and open.
>
>I see Windows 98 as of January will have no support. That is 4 years
>after they first got it working with second edition until it was
>buried. Support is a fiction.
>
>Rich
>
>--- In Jeremiah Moore <>
>wrote:
>> Storage is not the major choke point - bandwidth is. Lossless
>> compression technology will find its best application in network
>> transmission of material: speeding long distance collaboration and
>> delivery.
>>
>> I agree with Walt vis a vis being conservative with formats for
>> archiving. PCM bwav (broadcast wav) on well-stored commodity media
>> (CD-R, DVD-R) with periodic re-copying is looking pretty future-
>proof
>> at this point.
>>
>> -j
>>
>>
>> >Walter Knapp wrote:
>> >
>> >> We should not get into the mode of
>> >> expecting infinite expansion of
>> >> capacity with time. Some of the
>> >> most data dense hard drives now are
>> >> approaching putting each bit on only
>> >> one particle of magnetic material
>> >> in the disk coating. That's a limit
>> >> that's going to be hard to get around.
>> >
>> >Not to worry:
>> >http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113444,pg,4,00.asp
>> >
>> >Though most consumers aren't clamoring for more storage,
>> >manufacturers continue to seek ways to build bigger drives.
>> >
>> >"The two most promising technologies in the labs today are
>> >perpendicular recording and heat-assisted magnetic recording," says
> > >longtime storage analyst Jim Porter, principal at Disk/Trend.
> > >
> > >Maxtor recently used perpendicular recording to store up to 175GB
>per
>> >hard-disk platter, surpassing today's maximum of 100GB. Instead of
>> >storing data by magnetically orienting the particles on the
>platter's
>> >surface longitudinally along a circular track (like laying bar
>> >magnets flat--some oriented north-south, others south-north--in a
>> >circle), this scheme magnetically orients the particles
>perpendicular
>> >to the drive's surface (like a circle of bar magnets standing on
>> >end). Perpendicular recording can pack data more densely, and could
>> >spawn drives of 700GB, or roughly double the current maximum, in
>two
>> >to three years.
>> >
>> >Heat-assisted magnetic recording uses a more magnetically stable
>disk
>> >surface, allowing denser packing and increasing data stability.
>> >Normally this requires a stronger write head to orient the
>particles
>> >of the disk's surface. But HAMR drives use a laser to heat the spot
>> >being written to in order to make it easier to orient magnetically.
>> >Seagate has demonstrated HAMR technology that it claims could
>> >ultimately store 50 terabytes per square inch.
>> >
>> >However, warns Porter, such technology could be five to ten years
>> >away. Data density is still growing at about 50 percent per year
>> >using less-costly, conventional techniques.
>> >
>> >"The most important spec on any drive is price," says Porter. "None
>> >of this [new] technology will turn into products as long as
>> >manufacturers can produce conventional drives for less."
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Yahoo! Groups Links
>> >
>> >To visit your group on the web, go to:
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>> >
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>>
>> --
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>> jeremiah lyman moore | san francisco | sound+media |
>> http://babyjane.com/timeweb/
>> http://northstation.net/ organic, mechanized, organized sound
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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--
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jeremiah lyman moore | san francisco | sound+media |
http://babyjane.com/timeweb/
http://northstation.net/ organic, mechanized, organized sound
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