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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I believe you’re approaching this from the wrong angle - this isn’t a tech problem, this is a people problem.
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.
Instead of trying to get media that can last 200+ years, just teach your kids and grandkids the importance of keeping your family legacy alive. This will be way more effective than any medium you can come up it. Storage technologies change but the data remains the same, the future generations should be able to gradually upgrade storage mediums as necessary so the information keeps existing.
Digital? No. You want durable, you go physical. Print the photos with real archive-quality processes and materials. Same for video and audio, but on film. Keep a 3-2-1 backup in climate-controlled environments.
If you really really want digital, the media doesn’t matter, because you’ll always have to migrate to current formats. Someone will have to be actively maintaining it.
Yeah, I’d say at least every ten years I’ve replaced all my media. Hard drive failures, tape upgrades, physical media changes, tech just moves so quickly. Even if the media survives 100 years, will we still have the tech to read it?
will we still have the tech to read it?
Probably, if VLC is still around.
Telnet still exists and you can still access a telnet server running on 40 year old hardware
Just make sure the NSA gets their copy and you are golden. /s
Stuff like https://www.mdisc.com/ exist which claims 1000+ years of lifespan… Kinda difficult to assert whether it’s true or not tho.
A lot of the modern MDisc media is made with organic dyes as Verbatim has more or less given up on the format. Be warned. https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/yu4j1u/psa_verbatim_no_longer_sells_real_m_discs_now/
This is not true. All Verbatim BD-Rs (including VERBAT-IMe-000) use inorganic dyes. It’s stated by several different people in the comments in your link.
Cave paintings aren’t video or audio. They’re pictures. You can print your photos or print grabs from your videos.
If you print every frame of the video in a translucent film and then project them one after the other really fast, it’s like real video!
