January 12th, 2006
Stick to Magnetic Tape, Not CDs
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
With more and more software I buy being downloadable, I have Gigabytes of software that I have to keep images of in case I need to reinstall. After having problems with CD-RW and DVD+/-RW discs for archival storage, I decided on external hard drives … and multiple external hard drives. For me, it’s the fastest, and so far, no failures (though I assume there will be in the future, which is why I have multiple drives).
Many people rely on CD s and DVDs for storage of pictures and data, and opinions vary as far as how long the media will last. But Kurt Gerecke, a physicist and storage expert at IBM Deutschland has his own opinion: don’t rely on optical media such as CDs and DVDs if you don’t want to reburn them every few years.
“Unlike pressed original CDs, burned CDs have a relatively short life span of between two to five years, depending on the quality of the CD,” Gerecke says. “There are a few things you can do to extend the life of a burned CD, like keeping the disc in a cool, dark space, but not a whole lot more.”
“Many of the cheap burnable CDs available at discount stores have a life span of around two years,” Gerecke says. “Some of the better-quality discs offer a longer life span, of a maximum of five years.”
Hard-drive disks also have their limitations, according to Gerecke. The problem with hard drives, he says, is not so much the disk itself as it is the disk bearing, which has a positioning function similar to a ball bearing. Source: PC World
We Say: Gerecke’s recommendation for long term storage? Magnetic tape, of all things. Tape can have a life of 30 to 100 years. Wow, tape has been around so long, and still can’t be beaten for archival storage. There seems to still be development in this area (Sony just announced what they claim to be the first SATA tape drive), but when’s the last time you saw someone with a tape drive in his new, state-of-the-art home PC?
Deadeye says:
Gerecke must have had a $ell of a lot better luck with tape than I’ve experienced in the past.
January 12th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
aAnaRchY says:
” but when’s the last time you saw someone with a tape drive in his new, state-of-the-art home PC? “.
My work is audio design / editing at a production studio, and we still use tape drives for archive. actually we have hundreds of them lying around
We use dedicated hardware for audio editing and is not “pc based”. we can archive on a cd or dvd, but we don’t because they don’t meet the quality and the life span of a tape.
January 13th, 2006 at 2:38 am
Mike says:
Well I have been reading about this for a while, and I am REALLY irritated. What is going to happen to all those pictures/videos I put on cds and dvds? I think the companies who supply the media should be held responsible for the terribly short lifespan!
Who can afford a good tape backup unit anymore? Total on all my systems I have close to 1TB of HD space, with video, pics, etc ALL over them..dvr and all…would cost me a fortune to use tape for a backup media.
Mike
guess the digital age isnt that great after all, huh…argh.
January 13th, 2006 at 3:42 am
Bryan "Ghazban" Reed says:
Why does it feel like this information should have been released and discussed years and years ago? Shouldn’t blank media manufacturers put some sort of “shelf life” information on packages? I suppose I need to dig out some of the archive cd-r’s I made back in 1998 and see if they are still readable.
January 13th, 2006 at 6:50 am
Alan Fargusson says:
I really doubt the 30 to 100 year claim. My experience is that tapes become unreadable after 3 to 5 years, depending on ware they are stored.
January 13th, 2006 at 9:58 am
John says:
Am I missing something when I see, “After having problems with CD-RW and DVD+/-RW discs for archival storage”
I didn’t see CD-R or DVD+/-R in the quoted article.
Is there any difference?
John
January 13th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
EazyEzcape says:
I use Omega’s REV to backup my files. At under three hundred bones, it is a great way to back 35 to 60 gigs of information at a time. I have never had a problem with it and I would not go any other way.
January 14th, 2006 at 7:58 am