RE: CD Life?

[Kim Bourner <Kim -dot- Bourner -at- Manatron -dot- com>]

What you just said is unfortunately accurate.  I was trying to avoid that
on-going storage, re-load, and store in a new format process.  Especially
since I was the one to do it for my department at work.  When I was hired
in, one of my jobs was to take the old 8" floppies, save the info on an
elderly pc, and resave on the smaller floppies of the day.  Now I'll need to
take those and burn them to cd or something.  I guess I'm also looking for
the longest period of time between re-storaging data.  

Thank You,
Kim Bourner
Technical Writer
www.manatron.com

Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone else's
life.    - Kobi Yamada 


-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Evans 
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 11:53 AM
To: Kim Bourner; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: CD Life?


You're all researching the wrong area.

We're really in the same position we were twenty-five years ago--do we stay
with 8" floppies or move to the new 5 1/4" floppies. Of course, no one
thought of the 3 1/2" floppies that eventually won out--for a while. The
longevity of your media is less important than the longevity of your
hardware and software; any one know where I can find someone who can read 8"
hard formatted Processor Technology floppies?

Look at archival storage as an ongoing process. Every few years you're going
to have to re-record it on new equipment with new software on new media. One
prime example of this is in genealogy where records were painstakingly
microfilmed and then the originals destroyed. The best of the microfilm
can't touch today's technology and is unsearchable.

Bruce

==============================================
Bruce Evans, M.D.
Family Physician and Technical Writer

"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked;
leadership is defined by results not attributes."

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-10309 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Behalf Of Kim Bourner
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 11:03 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: CD Life?




The CD life question is very good.  Are there CURRENTLY alternatives that
might be good for long term saving?  What about memory sticks and
smartcards?  Is there something out there now that is valuable for long term
storage?

I totally agree that there is plenty of reason to be skeptical of CDs.  I
even broke a music CD not long ago because it didn't want to pop out of the
case.  I'm looking forward to new technology that is also better, bigger,
and longer lasting.

Thank You,
Kim Bourner
Technical Writer
Embrace your uniqueness. Time is much too short to be living someone else's
life.    - Kobi Yamada


-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-135807 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
On Behalf Of Wright, Lynne
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 10:42 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: CD Life?

I just read a story in the paper the other day about how this archival
library has had to replace a whack of information stored on CDs, because
they've developed some kind of creeping rusting-mold situation that is
eating the surface of the CD away.

This was happening mostly on the oldest generation of CDs, so they are
hoping that the ones that were made with better technology will last
longer...

I remember when music first started coming out on CDs, and everyone was
scoffing at me because I was skeptical, saying that vinyl was better.. i was
treated like a stubborn luddite... and now that we've all been pretty much
forced to abondon vinyl, LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING!??!?!?

The bottom line is: nobody can accurately predict how long CD format will be
relevant. Rest assured, though, that if (when) CDs get replaced with the
next new technolgy that  is supposed to be THE standard forever, there will
be tons of people who will gladly accept your money to convert all your
archives.

Lynne Wright
Technical Communications




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l 

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.