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Flash drives for long term cold storage?
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2021-02-03 at 8:55 PM UTCSo I need something other than a hard drive to store my home movies and other important files on.
How would flash thumb drives suffice?
Or should I go with an external ssd? -
2021-02-03 at 9:15 PM UTCGet an external SSD. It's what white men use. Anything smaller than 5TB is for minorities.
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2021-02-04 at 1:04 PM UTCJust burn to blueray or DVD dumbo.
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2021-02-04 at 5:41 PM UTC
Originally posted by the little girl How would flash thumb drives suffice?
Or should I go with an external ssd?
Both extremely expensive for cold storage. If it's truly archival and you don't plan on editing stuff, optical media survives a long ass time and is really pretty cheap. Just a normal magnetic hard drive would work fine too. If you're worried about fault tolerance a NAS with a RAID setup isn't a bad option either, although a bit more pricy. There are some good web based storage options too, e.g. tarsnap or rsync.net (both encrypted offerings) -
2021-02-04 at 6:16 PM UTCedited for privacy
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2021-02-04 at 6:41 PM UTC
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2021-02-04 at 8:04 PM UTCedited for privacy
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2021-02-04 at 8:14 PM UTC
Originally posted by the little girl So I need something other than a hard drive to store my home movies and other important files on.
How would flash thumb drives suffice?
Or should I go with an external ssd?
doesn't matter. over a decade or so, they will lose data. I would suggest CDs since they physically pit into the disk. but because of new plastic resin laws passed prior to the technology of CDs were created in the late 1970s they passed a law that all plastics start to be process as biodegradable. so even disc will break down over the short time of 10 years rather than 200 plus years it used to take.
all of your metal plate recorders like the HDD use magnetic so they're technically still analog using a numerical magnetic marker rather than true pitted. they can become demagnetized over a period of time while the pitted method will break down. you can thank the environmentalist for this process.
it's why electronics only last 7 years rather than 25 years or more like the old CRT TVS used to. You're more likely to find a working 1950s TV over that of a mid to late 1980s CRT. it's because the older TVs used material that didn't break down as fast.
Keep paying for a cloud server. it's the best concept. it uses "redundancy" to keep backing up your shit all over the place multiple times over so the likelihood of all of the backups in parts and bit getting lost is the less likely to happen -
2021-02-04 at 8:27 PM UTC
Originally posted by Lanny Both extremely expensive for cold storage. If it's truly archival and you don't plan on editing stuff, optical media survives a long ass time and is really pretty cheap. Just a normal magnetic hard drive would work fine too. If you're worried about fault tolerance a NAS with a RAID setup isn't a bad option either, although a bit more pricy. There are some good web based storage options too, e.g. tarsnap or rsync.net (both encrypted offerings)
does he want safety from prying eyes for movies or the fact they back up in redundancy so it never gets lost. Again, the optical media will degrade fairly quickly overtime because of what it's stored into. That material can't be preserved very well over time. I believe they always believed people would transfer to new technology over the years.
I doubt he will care about his old files over time. Most he'll probably trash, but things like family photos should be stored on a redundancy method over any single format. -
2021-02-04 at 8:34 PM UTC
Originally posted by Bugz does he want safety from prying eyes for movies or the fact they back up in redundancy so it never gets lost. Again, the optical media will degrade fairly quickly overtime because of what it's stored into. That material can't be preserved very well over time. I believe they always believed people would transfer to new technology over the years.
I doubt he will care about his old files over time. Most he'll probably trash, but things like family photos should be stored on a redundancy method over any single format.
I've got CDs (voodoo and Mr blobby warez CDs) going back to 94/95 or so and they are still fine. -
2021-02-05 at 2:37 AM UTC
Originally posted by Jiggaboo_Johnson I've got CDs (voodoo and Mr blobby warez CDs) going back to 94/95 or so and they are still fine.
I mean, sure. one out of this pack or that pack might be solid. but many of mine, not even exposed to sun have just failed. I kept some in a box but most have just changed color like the resin coating wore off. Even safely in their cases. and also it reminds me of opening a canister of old reel (film) where it has a vinegar smell. Not sure why. I think companies like Maxwell who made CDs or DVD R actually use a better quality of the protective outer resin and maybe a denser type of plastic. -
2021-02-05 at 3:38 AM UTCSo this is like fahrenheit 451 and the books burn themselves.
Fuck me,I never gave this shit much thought.
Who would think that a flash drive would break after a few years??
How long does digital tape last?
Tape drives are cheap but slow.
