archiving of digital photos

Alan Browne wrote:
ps56k wrote:
from a friend - -
----
I have invested a lot of time and effort in creating a folder
of all my photos over the years, currently ~16,000 occupying 10.7Gb on
my hard disk.
Having learned the lesson the hard way, I have backed them up on DVD's.

Since each DVD will only hold 4.7Gb, I have to split up the folder to
do this.

I know there are flash drives available that will go to 32Gb,
and I think now even 64Gb.

My question:
Is it "okay" to use a flash drive as an archival storage device?
Is it as stable as DVD's? As secure?
What if I store it in a "cool, dry place"?

What are your thoughts?

Another option, just remembered, is "write once" cards. Similar to a
Flash card form factor (say CF or SD), but you can only write to them
once. These were announced a year or so ago, but I haven't seen any so
far in the marketplace.

The issue here may be readability in 20 or 40 years. The data will
survive, but will there be readers?

(Note: I believe the most 'readable' format in 20 and even 40 years will
still be 5.25" DVD's).


Or will Blu-Ray kill them off? And if that happens, something will
supplant Blu-Ray. Not one single data format or device is obsolete-proof.
Allen

Allen wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
ps56k wrote:
from a friend - -
----
I have invested a lot of time and effort in creating a folder
of all my photos over the years, currently ~16,000 occupying 10.7Gb
on my hard disk.
Having learned the lesson the hard way, I have backed them up on DVD's.

Since each DVD will only hold 4.7Gb, I have to split up the folder to
do this.

I know there are flash drives available that will go to 32Gb,
and I think now even 64Gb.

My question:
Is it "okay" to use a flash drive as an archival storage device?
Is it as stable as DVD's? As secure?
What if I store it in a "cool, dry place"?

What are your thoughts?

Another option, just remembered, is "write once" cards. Similar to a
Flash card form factor (say CF or SD), but you can only write to them
once. These were announced a year or so ago, but I haven't seen any
so far in the marketplace.

The issue here may be readability in 20 or 40 years. The data will
survive, but will there be readers?

(Note: I believe the most 'readable' format in 20 and even 40 years
will still be 5.25" DVD's).


Or will Blu-Ray kill them off? And if that happens, something will
supplant Blu-Ray. Not one single data format or device is obsolete-proof.

Sorry, by "DVD" I really meant the 5.25" optical disk size of any format.

A BluRay drive will read DVD and CD. Whatever is 'next' will read them
all too... nice thing about finer and finer data, the laser can always
read the coarser data...


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
-- usenet posts from gmail.com and googlemail.com are filtered out.

Alan wrote on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:16:15 -0400:

Allen wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
ps56k wrote:
from a friend - -
----
I have invested a lot of time and effort in creating a
folder of all my photos over the years, currently ~16,000
occupying 10.7Gb on my hard disk. Having learned the lesson
the hard way, I have backed them up on DVD's.

Since each DVD will only hold 4.7Gb, I have to split up the
folder to do this.

I know there are flash drives available that will go to
32Gb, and I think now even 64Gb.

My question:
Is it "okay" to use a flash drive as an archival storage
device? Is it as stable as DVD's? As secure? What if I
store it in a "cool, dry place"?

What are your thoughts?

Another option, just remembered, is "write once" cards. Similar to a
Flash card form factor (say CF or SD), but you can only write to
them once. These were announced a year or
so ago, but I haven't seen any so far in the marketplace.

The issue here may be readability in 20 or 40 years. The
data will survive, but will there be readers?

(Note: I believe the most 'readable' format in 20 and even
40 years will still be 5.25" DVD's).

Or will Blu-Ray kill them off? And if that happens, something
will supplant Blu-Ray. Not one single data format or device
is obsolete-proof.

Sorry, by "DVD" I really meant the 5.25" optical disk size of any
format.

A BluRay drive will read DVD and CD. Whatever is 'next' will read
them all too... nice thing about finer and finer data,
the laser can always read the coarser data...

Truly archival storage will probably require periodic copying to new
media to avoid both obsolescence and chemical damage. Deposition of
metal, as in old fashioned prints and negatives, might ultimately be the
best but that depends on the substrate. The cellulose acetate film of
several 1930s movies has irreversibly deteriorated. However, good color
prints have been made from the separation negatives made by
Prokudin-Gorsky (spelling?) in the early 1900s

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

James Silverton wrote:

Truly archival storage will probably require periodic copying to new
media to avoid both obsolescence and chemical damage. Deposition of

You missed, in a different splinter of the thread, where I suggest gold
type DVD's for archival storage. 100+ years in benign conditions.

I would expect that, in time, there will be gold BR discs as well.

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
-- usenet posts from gmail.com and googlemail.com are filtered out.

Alan wrote on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:15:16 -0400:

Truly archival storage will probably require periodic copying
to new media to avoid both obsolescence and chemical damage.
Deposition of

You missed, in a different splinter of the thread, where I
suggest gold type DVD's for archival storage. 100+ years in
benign conditions.

I would expect that, in time, there will be gold BR discs as
well.

Possibly but 100 years has not passed despite attempts at simulation and
readers for the discs may not exist in as little as 20 years time.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

Alan Browne wrote:
Allen wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
ps56k wrote:
from a friend - -
----
I have invested a lot of time and effort in creating a folder
of all my photos over the years, currently ~16,000 occupying 10.7Gb
on my hard disk.
Having learned the lesson the hard way, I have backed them up on DVD's.

Since each DVD will only hold 4.7Gb, I have to split up the folder to
do this.

I know there are flash drives available that will go to 32Gb,
and I think now even 64Gb.

My question:
Is it "okay" to use a flash drive as an archival storage device?
Is it as stable as DVD's? As secure?
What if I store it in a "cool, dry place"?

What are your thoughts?

Another option, just remembered, is "write once" cards. Similar to a
Flash card form factor (say CF or SD), but you can only write to them
once. These were announced a year or so ago, but I haven't seen any
so far in the marketplace.

The issue here may be readability in 20 or 40 years. The data will
survive, but will there be readers?

(Note: I believe the most 'readable' format in 20 and even 40 years
will still be 5.25" DVD's).


Or will Blu-Ray kill them off? And if that happens, something will
supplant Blu-Ray. Not one single data format or device is obsolete-proof.

Sorry, by "DVD" I really meant the 5.25" optical disk size of any format.

A BluRay drive will read DVD and CD. Whatever is 'next' will read them
all too... nice thing about finer and finer data, the laser can always
read the coarser data...

That only works with stamped optical media. With writable dye-based
discs the color of the light is important and a new device may not be
able to read older media.


--
Ray Fischer

Alan Browne wrote:
James Silverton wrote:

Truly archival storage will probably require periodic copying to new
media to avoid both obsolescence and chemical damage. Deposition of

You missed, in a different splinter of the thread, where I suggest gold
type DVD's for archival storage. 100+ years in benign conditions.

Do you own stock in the company? Or is there some other reason that
you keep pushing that as the solution to all backup problems?

--
Ray Fischer

Ray Fischer wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:

A BluRay drive will read DVD and CD. Whatever is 'next' will read them
all too... nice thing about finer and finer data, the laser can always
read the coarser data...

That only works with stamped optical media.

Cite reference.

With writable dye-based
discs the color of the light is important and a new device may not be
able to read older media.

That's plausible, time will tell. But nonetheless BR readers will be
around for at least the next 20 years. More like 40 - 50.


--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
-- usenet posts from gmail.com and googlemail.com are filtered out.

Ray Fischer wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
James Silverton wrote:

Truly archival storage will probably require periodic copying to new
media to avoid both obsolescence and chemical damage. Deposition of
You missed, in a different splinter of the thread, where I suggest gold
type DVD's for archival storage. 100+ years in benign conditions.

Do you own stock in the company? Or is there some other reason that
you keep pushing that as the solution to all backup problems?

No and False. I suggested external hard drives and moving the backup
forward on to new drives as they come out at significantly higher
capacity.

But, where people are determined to use DVD I suggest that they at least
use the 'gold' archival types that will last many times longer.

Shouldn't you be researching AA filter affects on image resolution?

--
-- r.p.e.35mm user resource: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- r.p.d.slr-systems: http://www.aliasimages.com/rpdslrsysur.htm
-- [SI] gallery & rulz: http://www.pbase.com/shootin
-- e-meil: Remove FreeLunch.
-- usenet posts from gmail.com and googlemail.com are filtered out.

Alan wrote on Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:50:45 -0400:

Ray Fischer wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:

A BluRay drive will read DVD and CD. Whatever is 'next'
will read them all too... nice thing about finer and finer
data, the laser can always read the coarser data...

That only works with stamped optical media.

Cite reference.

With writable dye-based
discs the color of the light is important and a new device
may not be able to read older media.

That's plausible, time will tell. But nonetheless BR readers
will be around for at least the next 20 years. More like 40 -
50.

Nostradamus or Cassandra?

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not