Backup recommendations

[Les Mikesell]

On Mon, 2006-11-20 at 04:40, Anne Wilson wrote:

> > So I am thinking about writing critical stuff to dvd
> > periodically but I have read conflicting comments about
> > the longevity of writable dvd's.
> > Any comments?
> 
> As Tom remarked, you need your backups to be stored in a different physical 
> place.  Even a garden shed, if you have some damp-proof insulated storage.  I 
> have a stone-built outhouse in which I run a very low-powered heater to keep 
> damp away.

10 years would probably be a good age to copy anything you care
about.  By then there may be a new storage media that is an order
of magnitude bigger and faster and you may be running into the
end of life on the old style drives.

The same applies to video tapes.  I've been copying my old 8mm and
Hi8 analog tapes in and out of a digital camera - but unfortunately
the capacity difference goes the wrong way there and the digital
tapes only hold half as much.

-- 
  Les Mikesell
   lesmikesell at gmail.com