How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years) (programming.dev)

submitted 7 months ago by anzo@programming.dev to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.eco.br/post/4492477

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

I have some family videos and audios and I want to physically save them for posterity so that it lasts for periods like 200 years and more. This allows great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren to have access.

From the research I did, I found that the longest-lasting way to physically store digital content is through CD-R gold discs, but it may only last 100 years. From what I researched, the average lifespan of HDs and SSDs is no more than 10 years.

I came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure that the files really pass from generation to generation is to record them on CDs and distribute them to the family, asking them to make copies from time to time.

It's crazy to think that if there were suddenly a mass extinction of the human species, intelligent beings arriving on Earth in 1000 years would probably not be able to access our digital content. While cave paintings would probably remain in the same place.

What is your opinion?

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[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 47 points 7 months ago

Do you really think you are going to find a working CD drive in 100+ years? Try finding a working 8" floppy drive and a computer that can interface with one. They are only 50 years old and it's quite a task to read an 8" floppy now.

Data has to be transferred to new media as it becomes available if you want to keep it and be able to read it decades later.

[-] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 28 points 7 months ago

As long as it has a USB-A port, I think it will be good. We can’t seem to kill that one. ;)

[-] pelletbucket@lemm.ee 6 points 7 months ago

yeah but the CD keeps being backwards compatible with DVD players, then Blu-ray, then UHD Blu-ray... these new 125tb discs are the same form factor again. i think we'll have CD players way longer than tape decks

[-] B0rax@feddit.de 6 points 7 months ago

I think CD is more or less at the end of its livecycle, most PCs sold today don’t even have a cd drive anymore.

[-] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 4 points 7 months ago

They haven't had any kind of drive for a while now. You know what does though? Game consoles.

[-] B0rax@feddit.de 2 points 7 months ago

Sure, but getting the data from the disks through a game console sounds pretty not fun.

[-] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

The point is that even if CD or DVD drives aren't produced nearly as much, there is still a market for newer drives that still support CDs and DVDs.

[-] cashmaggot@piefed.social 1 points 3 months ago

Sometimes I scrounge around bargain tech and I see a vga port (is that a serial port? I can't remember) or the green/purple ports for a mouse and a ???? (keyboard????) and I am blown away because I forgot they existed. And do you remember that big fat fuckin' port that you put a printer on? Cause I remember having to undo, redo, undo, redo that fker a hundred years ago because it never seemed to connect right. But I can't even tell you WHERE I was messing with that. Maybe a library. I just remember it because it was the size of a harmonica (but not really).