It seems that HDDs used for archive purposes since the 1990s have often failed when someone comes to retrieve information from them.
Howathunkit
3 Likes
I’ve always understood that the only digital media that has longer life than a human are punched cards and paper tape. The next problem is finding a working machine that can read them.
And then there is entropy. In my thermodynamics course back in college the professor stated up front he would not entertain any philosophical discussions about it. But, admit it, for preservation, All We Are Is Dust In The Wind. Dust in the Wind by Kansas
3 Likes
I don’t know what’s the best solution for archival storage. Normally by the time I replaced a server I had replaced all the drives two or three times. All the major cloud providers, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, etc. offer archival storage so I imagine that will be the most common method going forward. I always considered LTO tape to be the most reliable media for long term storage and was still using it for backups when I retired.
Speaking of failing hard drives:
3 Likes