Question for data storage experts...

What's the best way to store data long term?

I have tons of NBA full-game videos on my hard drives, and I want to store them long term. I was thinking of buying some extra SATA hard drives, copying everything to them, putting each in an anti-static bag, sealing them air-tight, and then locking them away. I want to be able to store these for time on the order of 10+ years without anything getting corrupted. Is there a better way than what I'm proposing?

Putting them on Blu-Ray, DVD, tape, etc. is out of the question, as I don't want anything easily corrupted by scratches or tape being broken.

I'm no expert, so I don't know how sealing HD's in an air tight container will effect their longevity. How much data are we talking? Is buying a 1TB external drive, and always keeping a back up not an option?

I'd also check out the prices on something like Amazon's online storage, though uploading that much data may be a bit prohibitive as well.

Good question.

so setting up a raid setup is out of the question then since ur putting it in a closet for 10yrs....

I would think digital tape of some sort for true long-term storage. I wouldn't count on a consumer-level hard disk that sat around for 10 years. Otherwise, regular migration from older to newer hard disks is not a bad option now, plus you won't get stuck with an old hard disk with an outdated interface.

Any updates?

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Originally Posted by spurster

I would think digital tape of some sort for true long-term storage. I wouldn't count on a consumer-level hard disk that sat around for 10 years. Otherwise, regular migration from older to newer hard disks is not a bad option now, plus you won't get stuck with an old hard disk with an outdated interface.

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Do you have any recommendations in particular (i.e., good tape drives and media)? Also, what precautions would you take in storing the tapes?

I have ~2TB of stuff I'd like to archive.

I've had the same internal storage drive for over 7 years on about 4 different computers. If something were ever to happen where i have to evacuate my house, i just take that storage drive with me since it got all my pictures and over 10,000 songs.

So yeah, probably having an external drive wouldn't be such a bad idea to store all your videos.

I have a similar problem. Last year I spent 3 months downloading around 300 episodes of my favorite cartoon and now as I am rewatching it, I can see scratches on the DVD's I burned them on and I haven't even touched them, they have been just lying in their case untouchded. I also notice slower playback and sometimes some errors. It's around 80 GB total. What would be the best way to store these without losing anything for a large amount of years?

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

Do you have any recommendations in particular (i.e., good tape drives and media)? Also, what precautions would you take in storing the tapes?

I have ~2TB of stuff I'd like to archive.

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Damn, that's a lot of porn.

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Originally Posted by Cry Havoc

Damn, that's a lot of porn.

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Nah, the porn in only about ~1TB, and I don't care much about saving that. Just get new shit there.

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Originally Posted by baseline bum

Nah, the porn in only about ~1TB, and I don't care much about saving that. Just get new shit there.

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Porn is replaceable unlike Spurs games.

I think that if the data is important you should storage it in 2 different places. Since HDs have mechanical parts I wouldn't trust them so much. I keep 1 backup HD for the things that I need quick acess but I burn DVDs with the files that I probably won't see in a long time.

magnetic tape... same thing used for long-term storage 20 years ago. It has lifespan ratings of up to 30 years, though you should still backup the backups every few years. A lot longer than the 5 years an average hard drive might last.

A cd or dvd will outlast anything though, tape degrades eventually.

CDs and DVDs degrade, too, often within a few years. High-quality paper is probably the only thing we can be sure of lasting more than a lifetime.

I'm not a data storage expert, but if I had to backup 1 or 2 TBs of personal data, and be relatively sure, I would probably go with BB's hard drive idea, but rotate at least yearly. Tape is expensive for personal use especially compared to hard drives now. I'd also do a regular backup on DVDs depending on whether I could stand the tedium of doing it. It probably can't be much worse than a multi-floppy backup in the old days.

Tape and hard disk space cost about the same, tape used to be cheaper. Tape can write faster if you have a good reader.

Whatever you do, make the container a vacuum, keep it in the dark, keep it at room temperature, and keep it away from magnets.

Tape libraries have 20-40 year old stuff and that isn't even airtight. If you lock up your hard drives/tape/dvds, they will take an eternity to degrade.

If you are concerned primarily about your NBA games, you should add to the equation that the NBA is in the process of uploading the videos of every game ever played. I read about it a couple years ago and the company they contracted to do all the uploading estimated it'd take seven years to finish the project, IIRC. Once the games are available online, the NBA is supposedly going to let users download any game they want for a set price.

In other words, if you are thinking ten years ahead, by that time you will probably be able to download a new copy. And the peer-to-peer software by 2018 will likely make it easy find a free copy.

:smokin

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Originally Posted by timvp

If you are concerned primarily about your NBA games, you should add to the equation that the NBA is in the process of uploading the videos of every game ever played. I read about it a couple years ago and the company they contracted to do all the uploading estimated it'd take seven years to finish the project, IIRC. Once the games are available online, the NBA is supposedly going to let users download any game they want for a set price.

In other words, if you are thinking ten years ahead, by that time you will probably be able to download a new copy. And the peer-to-peer software by 2018 will likely make it easy find a free copy.

:smokin

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A subscription service? I bet it won't allow you to easily keep local copies of the games.

By 2018 who knows what kind of encryption the NBA will put on their downloads to keep anyone from copying them though.