Archiving Digital Data an Unsolved Problem 405
mattnyc99 writes, "It's a huge challenge: how to store digital files so future generations can access them, from engineering plans to family photos. The documents of our time are being recorded as bits and bytes with no guarantee of readability down the line. And as technologies change, we may find our files frozen in forgotten formats. Popular Mechanics asks: Will an entire era of human history be lost?" From the article: "[US national archivist] Thibodeau hopes to develop a system that preserves any type of document — created on any application and any computing platform, and delivered on any digital media — for as long as the United States remains a republic. Complicating matters further, the archive needs to be searchable. When Thibodeau told the head of a government research lab about his mission, the man replied, 'Your problem is so big, it's probably stupid to try and solve it.'"
My solution for digital photos? (Score:4, Informative)
Storage itself? Currently burning onto Delkin Archival Gold [delkin.com], storing cool and dark, and in two physically distant locations.
They're also stored on my harddisk, and the best are backed up onto a USB drive.
If it looks like the DVD-ROM drive is becoming obsolete I'll burn them on to whatever comes along next.
If you're truly paranoid you can always print them on archival quality paper using pigment based inks
Re:Microsoft to help! (Score:1, Informative)
Re:USA is not a republic (Score:2, Informative)
1. A state where sovereignty rests with the people or their representatives, rather than with a monarch or emperor; a country with no monarchy.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/republic [wiktionary.org]
Re:Not too long... (Score:3, Informative)
Personally I think it's wonderful that the Romans were so kind as to give us such a great plot device.
Re:Not too long... (Score:2, Informative)