Re: Escaping Data Rot

[winston19842005 <bjjlyates@NOSPAMbellsouth.net>]

On 3/23/10 6:12 PM, in article 4BA93CD5.16297.usenet_csa2@a2central.com,
"Tristan" <tristan@a2central.com.remove-tgt-this> wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:57:33 -0700, Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> 
> 
>> How about searching for *.dsk?  (I assume they are still on your hard
>> disk...)
>> 
>> -michael
> 
> If only it were that easy.
> 
> They could be on:
> *One of a couple of EOL hard drives.
> *A partial backup of at least 4 hard drives.
> *An SD card (multiple choices).
> *A backup of an SD card.
> *A backup of a hard drive with a backup of the SD card on it.
> *Oblivion.
> 
> I have recently undertook the task of searching for ~15 years of my
> projects and such. it is daunting to say the least. Things tucked away on
> rotten floppies found wedged in things, damaged or EOL CDs, worn out hard
> drives etc.
> 
> A warning to those archiving things. Remember when CDs were relatively
> new and they said they have approx. 10 year life span? They weren't lying.
> Your early CD-Rs are quietly rotting.
> 
> Also a little more off topic, I found my G3 beige can read damaged PC
> formatted 3.5" floppies better than a PC can. Weird, eh?

10 years? I have many that lasted less than half that. No scratches.

Heck, I have trouble just making a new copy sometimes, two different
computers, burn a cd and wind up with a coaster for your beer after the
validation fails!

And yeah, about the PC. Seems like the newer the OS or PC, the more issues
it has reading the older media.