12 ms·

Any media is as durable as the availability of media reader. I seriously doubt, in 15-20 or 50 years, you will have the media reader available to read either of

by akg_67 13y ago

Any media is as durable as the availability of media reader. I seriously doubt, in 15-20 or 50 years, you will have the media reader available to read either of the media, whether tape or BD. How many 8" or 5.25" floppy disk drives are around today and usable with current server hardware? Anyone who is considering cold storage on media for more than 10 years lifespan is fooling themselves. A few years ago I had a customer who had to perform data migration from DLT to LTO-3. That was over 24 month project and customer begging the vendor to provide a few old DLT drives to read. On top of that the provided DLT drives were so finicky communicating with modern server hardware that they barely kept up for a few hours before going offline.

scott_karana 13y ago
You're completely right that the media solution will be gone before ten years pass. That said, I'd prefer to have as much headroom possible, if data is to be stored reliably. 5 years before migrating, with a 15-20 year window vs 5 years before migrating, with a 50-100 year window Probably a better recovery rate, at their scale.
kijin 13y ago
> I seriously doubt, in 15-20 or 50 years, you will have the media reader available to read either of the media, whether tape or BD. Today's Blu-Ray drives are perfectly capable of playing an audio CD from the 1980s, and compatible players probably will continue to be available for another 10-20 years even after everyone stops buying content on physical media. I wouldn't be surprised if I can plug in my USB 3.0 CD/DVD/Blu-Ray combo drive into a USB 7.5 port in 2030 and use it to play an audio CD from 1980, provided that the disc is in good condition. That's a lifespan of 50 years! Even in the digital age, well-designed and highly forwards-compatible forms of physical media can last a long time.
abalone 13y ago
15 years isn't that long of a time. I have CDs from much earlier than 1999 for sure, and the media reader is sitting right in my living room. And I'm not even running a data center.

by akg_67 13y ago

scott_karana 13y ago

You're completely right that the media solution will be gone before ten years pass. That said, I'd prefer to have as much headroom possible, if data is to be stored reliably. 5 years before migrating, with a 15-20 year window vs 5 years before migrating, with a 50-100 year window Probably a better recovery rate, at their scale.

kijin 13y ago

> I seriously doubt, in 15-20 or 50 years, you will have the media reader available to read either of the media, whether tape or BD. Today's Blu-Ray drives are perfectly capable of playing an audio CD from the 1980s, and compatible players probably will continue to be available for another 10-20 years even after everyone stops buying content on physical media. I wouldn't be surprised if I can plug in my USB 3.0 CD/DVD/Blu-Ray combo drive into a USB 7.5 port in 2030 and use it to play an audio CD from 1980, provided that the disc is in good condition. That's a lifespan of 50 years! Even in the digital age, well-designed and highly forwards-compatible forms of physical media can last a long time.

abalone 13y ago

15 years isn't that long of a time. I have CDs from much earlier than 1999 for sure, and the media reader is sitting right in my living room. And I'm not even running a data center.