A tape drive is, as far as I can tell, the only reasonable back-up medium. Even then, where file format is concerned, our industry doesn't care about promoting

A tape drive is, as far as I can tell, the only reasonable back-up medium. Even then, where file format is concerned, our industry doesn't care about promoting a 1000-year format for file-storage. If you back up online, you delegate privacy and longevity to a stranger. If you back up to DVD, watch out for bit rot. If you back up to HDD, watch out for mechanical failures. If you back up to SSD, well, failure typically means the whole thing is dead. Even if you have a medium that can keep data alive for more than a couple decades, chances are, when the time comes, you'll be stuck doing a lot of research to access old disk and file formats. Tape drives really ought be a staple item, in the consumer market, not just enterprise, and companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple ought to guide customers to a common standard to ensure their archives will last a life-time.