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Call me crazy, but there must be a way to store data indefinitely, right? I mean, writing it on a piece of paper and putting that paper in a box can last practi

Call me crazy, but there must be a way to store data indefinitely, right? I mean, writing it on a piece of paper and putting that paper in a box can last practically forever, given its not actively physically destroyed. Could we not come up with a tape storage that is write-once? Like a PROM, but in tape form? You do this, you add some checksums every now and then, and you just lock the thing away. How is that not going to last 100+ years if physically undisturbed?

avidiax 3y ago
Gold film with holes lasered into it should last indefinitely. Probably the longevity of the reel, container and building are more of a problem.
- viscousviolin 3y ago
  Github's backup on Svalbard also uses some kind of film, and it's supposed to last 500 to 1000 years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_World_Archive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_World_Archive
jl6 3y ago
We have data from thousands of years ago that has survived on stone tablets, papyrus, etc., but we don’t know what the failure rate is. The surviving items might be 1% of the originals. The best way to preserve data long term is to make lots of copies, distribute them widely, and migrate the copies onto new technologies periodically.
voxadam 3y ago
The Rosetta Project had (has?) the goal of storing a modern day Rosetta Stone[1] on nickle disks etched with nearly 14,000 pages of text in eight human languages. They expect(ed) that with minimal care the discs should remain legible for thousands of years.[2] [0] https://rosettaproject.org/ https://rosettaproject.org/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone [2] https://rosettaproject.org/about/ https://rosettaproject.org/about/
saulpw 3y ago
Paper in a box does not last forever--less than 100 years. It can last longer with the right paper and in climate-controlled environment. But this is not passive storage, you have to use energy every day to maintain the facility.

avidiax 3y ago

Gold film with holes lasered into it should last indefinitely. Probably the longevity of the reel, container and building are more of a problem.

viscousviolin 3y ago
Github's backup on Svalbard also uses some kind of film, and it's supposed to last 500 to 1000 years: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_World_Archive https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_World_Archive

jl6 3y ago

We have data from thousands of years ago that has survived on stone tablets, papyrus, etc., but we don’t know what the failure rate is. The surviving items might be 1% of the originals. The best way to preserve data long term is to make lots of copies, distribute them widely, and migrate the copies onto new technologies periodically.

voxadam 3y ago

The Rosetta Project had (has?) the goal of storing a modern day Rosetta Stone[1] on nickle disks etched with nearly 14,000 pages of text in eight human languages. They expect(ed) that with minimal care the discs should remain legible for thousands of years.[2] [0] https://rosettaproject.org/ https://rosettaproject.org/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone [2] https://rosettaproject.org/about/ https://rosettaproject.org/about/

saulpw 3y ago

Paper in a box does not last forever--less than 100 years. It can last longer with the right paper and in climate-controlled environment. But this is not passive storage, you have to use energy every day to maintain the facility.