What physical media format(s) are going to be easiest to open in the future?

For example, 8" floppy disks are not ideal because the rate of change in storage technology has rendered them obsolete.

Given that that will continue to occur, what factors go into deciding on future-proofing our backup media choices?

warren

• future-proofing
• media
• storage-media
• backup-and-recovery

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Answer by Donald.McLean

All media degrades over time, not even considering obsolescence of the equipment itself. As a result, you have to be prepared to revisit your technology choices on a regular basis.

So the best solution will take into account:

• speed
• reliability
• media lifetime
• cost per unit of data, and
• total amount of data

Many organizations may find that a cloud solution such as CrashPlan offers an extremely attractive solution for redundant off-site backups. The cheap solutions (such as tape) can have hidden costs in terms of time, convenience and risk of data loss. It is important for organizations to be realistic and careful to insure proper redundancy.

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Answer by mjuarez

I don't think this can be answered categorically if it's an electronic format. Like most hard questions, the answer correct here is "it depends".

The answer is going to depend on when you expect "the future" to be at.

• Is it 1 year? Normal storage, like USB and external hard drives, are probably good enough. Any of a number of on online storage services would also fit the bill here.
• Is it 10 years? You'd need something that doesn't degrade over time, so magnetic media could be out of the question. Although there's stories of people firing up 8" drives and getting data off from old floppies, I wouldn't count on that. Something like storing your data on the M-Disc from Milleniatta, along with at least two or three DVD drives should be enough. USB seems to have staying power (and backward compatibility up to now), so you should be able to find a USB drive somewhere to connect it to.
• Is it 50 years? Now it gets interesting. Think about this. 50 years ago, computers were only used by the government or big corporations. So, what will 50 more years do to computing? What we now know as "computers" might actually be invisible and wireless, so you'd have nothing to "read" your data with. Electricity should still be available (assuming no nuclear winter, asteroid hitting earth, etc), so maybe saving all your data on something like the M-Disc mentioned above, plus a fully functional laptop computer, with all the applications/drivers needed to read the data AND full instructions on how to use it (fifty years into the future, it might not be yourself that's reading the data), including electricity/voltage specs. At least you'll be able to read the data, even if you can't find a 50-year old computer by then (have you seen an old UNIVAC lying around these days? Yeah, didn't think so).
• Is it 100+ years? At this point, honestly, I wouldn't trust any company's claim of "eternal", "permanent", etc. Also, I wouldn't trust there being electricity at all. From the archival/historical point of view, the only things that have withstood the test of time are well-cared-for papyrus/books, and carved rock (think the Rosetta Stone). You could think about printing all your data in binary format in archival-quality paper, and storing all that in an airtight container. Think big QR codes with lots of redundancy/error correction built in, and/or hex values. You'd have to make sure the printer/ink you use is permanent, doesn't fade, and doesn't get "sticky" over time. Make sure you include a plain-english (maybe even multiple languages) document specifying how to decode the QR codes if you go this way, and a basic explanation of hex numbers. A "primer" if you will.
• Is it 1000+ years? Only carved rock has withstood thousands of years in the past. Even huge metal monuments have been melted down for ammunition and weapons, or stolen, while carved rock is usually left alone during times of hardship. You'd probably have to go with granite or maybe even pure quartz, along with a computer-driven laser and sandblaster. The language to use could be debatable, but you'd have to include a very basic primer (both numbers and letters, think "Contact") to make sure people thousands of years from now are still able to decode it.

Comments

Answer by Nick Krabbenhoeft

It's better to think of media migrations instead of relying on a single "best" format to ensure data integrity over time.

Preservation is an active process. No matter what format you choose, magnetic, optical, ink, carved-into-stone, it will degrade over time. Future-proofing data integrity requires that your storage technology loses bits in a consistent, correctable manner over its service life, and that you can migrate your data to a new media relatively easily when that service life ends.

Given that, the best storage media for any organization today depends on the budget and staff expertise of the organization. Larger organizations like LDS can afford a large tape array, while smaller organizations can get away with a cloud service Backblaze or Crashplan. Just remember to make it easy to get your data back out.

Comments

• Bill Lefurgy: Yes, this is exactly right. To this point, all media have proven very short-lived.

Answer by dsalo

The ones that are easiest to audit and replicate data from. Silent failure is deadly.

So, by way of example, spinning hard disks are better (yes, BETTER) than gold CD-ROMs, because auditing spinning disk for error and incipient failure is largely automatable and even automated. Copying from disk is easy, including over the network.

Whereas CD-ROMs of whatever material require considerable and expensive-to-automate physical futzing in order to audit or copy from. Ergo they're rarely audited, ergo they become unopenable without notice. File and forget.

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