Backup and storage - digital media is short lived

[monkeymoney]

Forgive the unsolicited advice, but having discovered the hard way I say:


Backup your personal/important/vital/legal data! - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Backup_just_wallet.dat_.2840MB.29

Pro tip:

Some regular USB pen drives are good for 2-10 years depending on use and storage conditions.

So I thought I would share:

Memory Vault is a long-term storage solution that will preserve your files for up to 100 years.
It is durable with no moving parts:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417vmtb8VdL._SL125_.jpg
100 Year Storage solution... 10x longer than many USB pen drives

 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B005LN51M8/?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&linkCode=ur2&tag=monkeygear-21
100 year storage!
Memory Vault



Do yourself (and me) a favour by buying from link above or

LTC:   LXVxBctAFArzuTrYN4vYJRu6mcGzedgX41
BTC:   1CXWhdCNkd4tD7xtUXoWyutwDiutgw3nB1

[nastybit]

Ok I guess thank you?
Then please explain how can they say this is going to last 100 years for sure?
They cannot test it, right?

[empoweoqwj]

Forgive the unsolicited advice, but having discovered the hard way I say:


Backup your personal/important/vital/legal data! - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Backup_just_wallet.dat_.2840MB.29

Pro tip:

Some regular USB pen drives are good for 2-10 years depending on use and storage conditions.

So I thought I would share:

Memory Vault is a long-term storage solution that will preserve your files for up to 100 years.
It is durable with no moving parts:


100 Year Storage solution... 10x longer than many USB pen drives

 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B005LN51M8/?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&linkCode=ur2&tag=monkeygear-21
100 year storage!
Memory Vault



Do yourself (and me) a favour by buying from link above or

LTC:   LXVxBctAFArzuTrYN4vYJRu6mcGzedgX41
BTC:   1CXWhdCNkd4tD7xtUXoWyutwDiutgw3nB1

Is this your store you are promoting?

Personally, I have never had problems with a USB drive, must have used them for 10 years now ..... never had a read/write failure. Backup to 2 or 3 ,don't see the need for a a "100 year drive", it will probably be stolen before then

[timk225]

Ignore this low post count noob, his bullshit is bullshit.  It's no different than hard drives with the 1 million hour MTBF rating (or whatever the number is), and 1000000 hours is 114 years, so I can only presume our modern hard drives were really invented in the year 1900 and run until now to get this testing rating?

[empoweoqwj]

Ignore this low post count noob, his bullshit is bullshit.  It's no different than hard drives with the 1 million hour MTBF rating (or whatever the number is), and 1000000 hours is 114 years, so I can only presume our modern hard drives were really invented in the year 1900 and run until now to get this testing rating?

The funny thing is he is just selling USB flash drives .... I can buy them anywhere, and cheaper.

Great sales line though: "It is durable with no moving parts".

Yes, we get that with USB drives. Its not like any of them ever spun round, not even the ones he claims pack in after 2 years (which they don't)

[kjj]

The funny thing is he is just selling USB flash drives .... I can buy them anywhere, and cheaper.

Great sales line though: "It is durable with no moving parts".

Yes, we get that with USB drives. Its not like any of them ever spun round, not even the ones he claims pack in after 2 years (which they don't)

Flash memory leaks current and self-discharges over time.  Two years in a drawer should be plenty of time to lose at least a few cells in a typical flash drive.  USB drives also tend to suffer random bricking events.  If you haven't seen either of these failures, you don't have enough flash drives.

This thing gets linked up in just about every thread on key storage and cold wallets.  But, I haven't seen anything from SanDisk on how they overcome the self-discharge problem inherent in flash memory.  I haven't exactly gone looking for it, but you'd think they'd mention something in their marketing literature.

[karma9]

so what's the best option? burn a cd?

[kjj]

I use m*disc and paper.  And by "paper", I mean QR codes, barcodes and text (in OCR-A font) laser printed onto high quality (but not special/archival) office paper.

Toner is basically just tiny little balls of soot and plastic and the fuser melts the plastic so that it flows into the paper fibers.  About as close to permanent as you can get for a few cents.

[crazyates]

so what's the best option? burn a cd?

NO! CDs are even worse, as they will degrade over time. Flash drives wear with use, so dropping some files on them and sitting in a safe for 50 years won't hurt them.

You drop a burned CD or DVD in a safe for 25 years and they'll be junk.

[empoweoqwj]

so what's the best option? burn a cd?

NO! CDs are even worse, as they will degrade over time. Flash drives wear with use, so dropping some files on them and sitting in a safe for 50 years won't hurt them.

You drop a burned CD or DVD in a safe for 25 years and they'll be junk.

Agreed. No CD lasts more than a few years, that's even if you never scratch the thing.

I can only repeat I've used USB drives for 5-8 years now, without a problem. More reliable than hard disks, CDs

[timk225]

Bullshit, I have CD's I recorded 10 years ago and they are fine.  Of course, I don't record at ultra high speed,  I give them a nice slow burn on the slowest or next to slowest available recording speed, usually 2X or 4X.

I also keep my CD's in plastic cases, in a box, in the dark, in places where the temperature does not fluctuate a lot.

And why is anyone concerned about holding coins for years in the first place?  If you were smart, you'd be buying and selling on the highs and lows while the prices are nice and volatile.

[empoweoqwj]

Bullshit, I have CD's I recorded 10 years ago and they are fine.  Of course, I don't record at ultra high speed,  I give them a nice slow burn on the slowest or next to slowest available recording speed, usually 2X or 4X.

I also keep my CD's in plastic cases, in a box, in the dark, in places where the temperature does not fluctuate a lot.

And why is anyone concerned about holding coins for years in the first place?  If you were smart, you'd be buying and selling on the highs and lows while the prices are nice and volatile.

What has this thread got to do with "buying and selling on the highs and lows while the prices are nice and volatile" - nothing.

[karma9]

Agreed. No CD lasts more than a few years, that's even if you never scratch the thing.

i have scratched audio CDs from early 90s. they play out just fine.

i'll just leave it here.

http://www.coolinfographics.com/storage/post-images/storage-media-lifespan.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1344973794072

[stevenh512]

USB drives also tend to suffer random bricking events.

I've only had one USB drive suffer from what I'd call a "random" bricking event, and this was a drive that was physically damaged and still managed to work perfectly for at least 3 more years of moderate to heavy use before finally dying on me.

More likely, USB drives that are heavily used (a lot of read/write cycles) will tend to suffer from bad sectors or file corruption over time. I've never had a drive that wasn't damaged or heavily used just "randomly" go bad on me while it was sitting in a drawer.

[empoweoqwj]

Agreed. No CD lasts more than a few years, that's even if you never scratch the thing.

i have scratched audio CDs from early 90s. they play out just fine.

i'll just leave it here.

http://www.coolinfographics.com/storage/post-images/storage-media-lifespan.jpeg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1344973794072

"Playing" music CD's is not the same as reading digital data from them. One bit wrong and the data is screwed. Not the same with music.

[kjj]

USB drives also tend to suffer random bricking events.

I've only had one USB drive suffer from what I'd call a "random" bricking event, and this was a drive that was physically damaged and still managed to work perfectly for at least 3 more years of moderate to heavy use before finally dying on me.

More likely, USB drives that are heavily used (a lot of read/write cycles) will tend to suffer from bad sectors or file corruption over time. I've never had a drive that wasn't damaged or heavily used just "randomly" go bad on me while it was sitting in a drawer.

I get about one per year in my small-ish organization.  Amusingly, the people that are the most physically abusive of them* have yet to lose one, even to physical damage.

I don't allow any data storage leave my organization without physical destruction.**  There is a lot of variation between different manufacturers in their willingness to tolerate my requirements in their RMA procedures.  Imation has never had a problem sending me a new drive to replace a baggie of thumb drive parts including a PCB with a half inch drill hole where the flash used to be.

* Patrol officers will stir their coffee with the first roughly plank-shaped object they see.

** I prefer to raise the temperature of magnetic media above the curie temperature with thermite, but shredding is quicker.

[empoweoqwj]

USB drives also tend to suffer random bricking events.

I've only had one USB drive suffer from what I'd call a "random" bricking event, and this was a drive that was physically damaged and still managed to work perfectly for at least 3 more years of moderate to heavy use before finally dying on me.

More likely, USB drives that are heavily used (a lot of read/write cycles) will tend to suffer from bad sectors or file corruption over time. I've never had a drive that wasn't damaged or heavily used just "randomly" go bad on me while it was sitting in a drawer.

True. Sitting in a draw is very safe. Unlike CD's which deteriorate "naturally"

[SaltySpitoon]

I use floppy discs. Very little chance of theft 

[empoweoqwj]

I use floppy discs. Very little chance of theft 

lol, yes indeed, who would steal a floppy. Most people wouldn't know what it does