By this same logic shouldn't we be arresting the CEO of baseball bat companies because someone could use one to assault someone, not to mention say gun manufacturers, knife companies etc...

I started using the name 'Bob' at the local Starbucks because of the pronunciation issue, not to mention I am a wee bit paranoid.

Just because I am paranoid DOESN'T mean they aren't after me.

People will flock to buy stuff and invest in this company which markets and sells goods manufactured almost exclusively in China and then have the nerve to complain about the US foreign trade deficit. We the stupid, blind and thoughtless Americans, brought it upon ourselves, and continue to do so, all the while blaming it on Obama, Congress or whatever other fool is in office. We get what we deserve I guess...

STK at the enterprise level agrees to pay the fines levied by the feds if data written to their tapes inside their silos, while under their high end service contract fail within 12 months of writing, provided they are stored by a certified off-site storage company, such as Iron Mountain. While that is not a data guarantee it comes as close as you can get. That is why critical application data gets a full backup, as well as incrementals every day come hell or high water. The cost is enormous but is part of doing business...

Actually yes I have but, perhaps I phrased it poorly, many types media are guaranteed for up to 7 years, but none that I've ever dealt with will guarantee the data stored for more than 12 months without a rewrite.

FTA you referenced...
Disks used in the test are REQUIRED to less than 12 month old and obtained directly from the manufacturer or thru known distribution channels.

The tests spanned less than 30 days, far short of the 12 months I spoke of and much less than the 7 YEARS federal requirements for bank data storage require. Not to mention the very small, relatively speaking size of the disk compared to the VAST amount of data required to be stored.

No backup media in use manufactured by ANY company is guaranteed for more than 12 months. While the media may have a 7 year life span the data on it NEEDS to be renewed at least once every 12 months and failure to do so abrogates nearly every warranty. I worked for a large bank and dealt extensively in federally mandated offsite Contingency Operations and Recovery and learned one thing, backups without recovery exercises are next to useless if you are actually seeking said protections rather than just meeting the bare minimum requirements set forth. If you really value the videos you've gone to such trouble to back-up then periodically you need to verify they still work and view them or you are just performing an exercise in rote time wasting.

A simple and very secure offsite storage answer is a bank safe deposit box. Put your movies on a thumb drive and stash it with your life insurance policy and other 'stuff' in a box at your bank. Relatively cheap or maybe even free depending on your bank, very likely local with standard access times to make recovery easy.

I wish I had mod points right now, that is some FUNNY sh*t...

Thanks

I remember learning to drive on my grandfather's farm in his old Willy's truck. You had to double clutch because there was no syncro-gear and if you hit a deep dip or ditch the wheel would spin beneath your hands. It was vital for the survival of your thumbs to ensure that they were NEVER curled around the steering wheel or risk having them broken or torn off completely.

I totally agree with you on the going away part, but how do you logically conclude that the reasons behind the regulations/requirements are suddenly not valid in light of the new technology ?
Is it acceptable that the main means of public communication in the event of an emergency are going to be completely unreliable ? Shouldn't the 'new' technology either be better equipped than the old, or at least be held to the same standards ?
Can you hear me now ?

The 'old' land line phone system was required by regulation/law to be able to handle 75% of the projected load in the event of an emergency. The cell phone networks have NO such limits and routinely fail under a 50% load. Imagine when there are NO LAND LINES and something bad happens in a region...poof no communication at all. If we depend on the corporations to determine that load limit it will be oversold 2 or 3 times to 'maximize' profit and be totally unreliable in the event of an emergency...ie no life-line to 911 or fire/medical

I disagree, even XP can be made secure. The problem is the network implementation and the proprietary software that runs on the admittedly PIGGY-BACK of XP. More and more the routers and silly appliances with hard coded firmware passwords and insecure 3rd party installation is to blame. I have to agree on the credit card issue though. Isn't it odd that the companies responsible for credit DB's and ratings also run the so-called identity protection sites ?? That seems like a conflict of interest to me.

yes of course, but the drives also function as boot devices and allow me to flash firmware and such in certain environments, also old but still functioning (functional) such as my DEC alpha server. Besides the original question was what outdated tech do you still keep around.
The problem with USB memory sticks is my retarded corporate bosses FORBID using USB sticks on their enterprise machines, while for some reason a USB attached floppy drive is acceptable. Management logic is beyond my ken...

While there might in fact be 2 Bing users I'm not one of them. I find Bing relies too much on looking pretty and less on delivering decent non-sponsored results. My parents seem to like Bing, though and all I can do is shake my head and set up their browser for them...