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Surely there's a better medium for long-term storage than paper? I can see this working for small documents, but if you have to print out thousands of pages you
by armchairhacker 5y ago
Surely there's a better medium for long-term storage than paper? I can see this working for small documents, but if you have to print out thousands of pages you mine as well store the data on some kind of USB and maybe just print out the key shards.
- CuriousCosmic 5y agoIt depends what's long term for you. If long term is 10-20 years then cold disk storage is probably acceptable provided you have some redundancy. However if for whatever reason you are aiming at 50, 100, or 100+ year storage, this is probably the safer approach (however like another comment mentioned, a decoding algorithm should probably be provided with the documents).
- killerpopiller 5y agobut doesn’t the printed text fade away before then?
- cyphar 5y agoNot with the right choice of paper and storage. In the bottom of the README I included a fairly detailed description of the basic precautions you can take to make the pages last as long as possible as well as links to several conservation groups and their recommendations. The short version is you should use archival grade acid-free paper (acid breaks down ink and the page over time) and prefer encapsulation (storing inside an intert sleeve with the end taped or threaded closed) over hot lamination (the vinyl acetate in the laminate accelerates degredation). We have managed to keep documents much older than 100 years in usable condition under far less ideal circumstances.
- Brian_K_White 5y agoThere is not. Not even close.