The longer the possible time frame in which a particular document will one day become important again, the more important it is to hedge your bets against techn

The longer the possible time frame in which a particular document will one day become important again, the more important it is to hedge your bets against technology. Considering long term (insurance claims, long term cap gains) record keeping, a database is part of the problem. I'm going to spend more time keeping software up to date, maintaining a database, than just having individual PDF, png, jpg, DjVu files that are well named and organized in directories. And even though I've got a lot of complaints about PDF, I pick PDF just because it's likely to be the path of least resistance when selling a house, and I need all my closing and home improvement receipts to prove cost basis. Or experience a fire. PDF/A might be a better choice, but I'm pretty sure in this time frame a regular PDF will still be viewable.