[list] [ale] Need advice on home back-up solution

[Sean Kilpatrick]

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On Monday 29 September 2003 04:54 pm, Bob Toxen wrote:
|  Most tapes should be good for 5-20 years.

But when the hardware dies five or ten years from now,
can it be replaced? I gave up on tape backups because
of this _minor_ problem. I was using one of the cheaper
tape drives and when it died I discovered that the
newer/replacement drives couldn't read my data -- 
formatting problems. I was not amused.

By way of example, I suspect it would be non-trivial to
find a working 5.25 floppy drive and get it to work on
a modern computer.  I suspect finding a working 8" floppy
drive and getting it to read data would be even more so.

What I am trying to say is that the rapidly changing world
of small computers makes it very difficult to predict what
sort of storage media will still be readable in 20 years.
I store my photos on CDs, but I am confident that at some
point in the next five years or so I am going to have to
copy them _all_ to some other sort of backup media.

Look at audio cassette tapes for example. In the space of 18
months the pre-recorded ones completely disappeared from
the market.  They were on dealer shelves in June, 2001,
but were gone by October, 2002.  In another year or so I
doubt you will even be able to purchase a combo radio/
cassette player for your car.  Same thing goes for video
tape players.  I'd be surprised if parts are available to
repair them in another three or four years. I already am
prepared (mentally anyway) for the day when I will have to
copy my video tape library over to DVD or lose it because I
can't replace a dead tape player.

Sean


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