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“They Told Us Digital Data Would Last Forever.
They Lied”
The truth about archiving isn’t what they’re necessarily telling.
Newsweek magazine in its July 12 issue, in an article headlined “History: We’re Losing It” and subtitled with the quote above, said, “for years, computer scientists said the ones and zeros of digital data would stick around forever. They were wrong.” It cites the findings of the National Media Lab and the National Archives Special media Preservation Lab that virtually all electronic records systems are vulnerable to a host of factors.
The Archives cites the fact that in the late 1980s it transferred some 200,000 documents and images onto optical disks. Today they are in danger of becoming indecipherable because the system archivists used is no longer on the market. And touted migration, aside from cost, isn’t a perfect solution because “sometimes all the data doesn’t make the trip” said Abby Smith, Council on Library and Information Resources. She noted a recent FDA finding that some pharmaceutical companies were discovering errors as they transferred drug testing data from earlier UNIX to Windows NT operating systems. These errors could be critical.
Smith and Charles Mayn, National Archives, noted some of the early digital records --- as a result of galloping obsolescence of software, hardware and media (such as the 5.25” disk)--- can no longer be read except, possibly, in museums. What’s the answer? They suggest separating the inconsequential from the historic and saving on simple formats. Does that sound like microfilm?
“Never, Ever, Ever, Ever Rely on Just One Archiving Medium”
In the current issue of E-Media magazine, columnist Andy Ihnatko, after discussing “disc rot” (which occurs on CDs and laserdiscs when the metallic layer inside the plastic becomes pitted over time), warns his readers, “Never, ever, ever, ever rely on just one archiving medium. “If it’s important enough to archive, it’s important enough to make multiple archives on multiple media stored in multiple areas. One copy stays in my office, and one copy stays in my safe-deposit box. And most important, there is a paper copy of everything that’s valuable. Paper isn’t the most portable or handy format, but it remains readable even after suffering astonishing physical damage. And the hardware designed to read it will never become obsolete or incompatible with your computer even a hundred years from now.”
Reprinted From:
MICROGRAPHICS & Hybrid Imaging Systems NEWSLETTER
