What’s the Best Long Term Storage Media? Tips to Avoid Losing Data in Your Lifetime

⏱️ Choosing the right long term storage media is part of protecting your data from degradation or other forms of loss. But there's more to it than just media.

Common storage methods like CDs, DVDs, memory cards, and thumb drives are susceptible to wear and data loss over time. Even SSDs, a pricier flash memory option, aren't guaranteed to last for decades. The more reliable option seems to be traditional spinning hard drives, which have shown durability over extended periods. What's critical is to periodically transfer data from old storage mediums to newer technologies to prevent data loss. Also, consider the longevity of file formats. Ubiquitous formats like .docx and PDF are likely to remain accessible in the future, but obscure formats might become unreadable. Cloud storage is another useful solution but should be treated as an "additional" backup, given potential account hacks or service failures. Lastly, while paper retains data without tech interference, it's vulnerable to environmental damages. In essence, the key to long-term data preservation is redundancy and regular data migration.

More Ask Leo!

#askleo #storage #backup

[askleonotenboom]

Also, one of my points here isn't really to say one particular form of media is better than another (though of course some will be, and as the comments point out there's a wide variety of opinion 😱). The real takeaway here is that there is NO "best" media, and that in order to preserve data long term it should be a) backed up, and b) 👉🏻👉🏻periodically migrated to then-current storage technology👈🏻👈🏻.

[nemonada]

The difference between local storage and cloud storage is that local storage can't change its terms and conditions at any time, unless YOU feel like changing the terms an conditions.

[prycenewberg]

"What’s the Best Long Term Storage Media?" Clay tablets. Or stone if you're out of clay.

[awandererTJ]

The ONLY solution to keeping important data is, multiple copies stored at diverse places on various media - AND scheduled rewrites every 10 years or so. It is not about media type or file format, it is about due process.

[AlexZanderMuro]

"their backups are for them; my backups are for me" awesome line. so many people forget this when picking a cloud company and rely so much on them.

[marklewus]

Good advice! Remember, “The cloud is just someone else’s computer.” I use a 4 bay NAS with two drive failure protection (RAID 6 or Synology SHR-2) and replace bad drives as they fail. I also keep backup hard drives in cold storage and update/verify quarterly. I keep another hard drive at one of my kids houses, updated annually, in the event of fire or theft. I have data going back to the early 1980s with no loss.

[philmanley]

I have got cassette tapes I recorded onto in 1970 and they still play back ok today.

[bryku]

I can share some of my experience with USB, SD Cards, and SSDs since I actually tried this out.
5 years ago I decided to test this out, so I bought 10 USBs, 10 SD cards, 5 SSDs and stored the same 50 images on each one without compressing it. The plan was every year I would test 1 of each of these and check if they died.

Year 1:
- USB 1: First Test - nothing wrong
- SD: First Test - nothing wrong
- SSD: First Test - nothing wrong

Year 2:
- USB 1: Second Test - nothing wrong
- USB 2: First Test - 17 images were corupted
- SD: Second Test - nothing wrong
- SD: First Test - 28 images were corupted
- SSD: Second Test - nothing wrong
- SSD: First Test - 3 images were corupted

Year 3:
- USB 1: Third Test - Worked, but 36 images corrupted
- USB 2: Second Test - Worked, but no data
- USB 3: First Test - Didn't work, wasn't recognized
- SD: Third Test - Worked, but only 39 images corrupted
- SD: Second Test - Worked, but no data
- SD: First Test - Worked, but no data
- SSD: Third Test - Worked, but 38 images corrupted (2 more than last time)
- SSD: Second Test - Worked 14 image corrupted (11 more than last time)
- SSD: First Test - Worked, but no data

Year 4:

At this point every device has lost data.
The only devices that worked were the first tests.
They all worked, but had corupted images.

Year 5:

The only devices that worked were the first tests.
Nothing else worked at all and most the computer didn't even see.

Summary:

I think the first tests kept working because each year they were getting a charge when I tested it, but they still had corupted images, so it wasn't perfect. These were all just sitting in my closest during this time, so there wasn't any special environmental control.

On the other hand I had a hard drive sitting in my trunk for 8+ and it still worked.
One program didn't work after all this time and I'm not sure why, but all the individual files, images, music still worked.

[indefinable]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Concerning PDF you should consider, that PDFs may rely on your operating system (for example for fonts), may contain propriatary data, etc. So what you want for archival is PDF/A, which is the archival PDF format, which was specifically designed to include all data required to display the PDF and thus is intended for archival purposes.

[Duvoncho]

Redundancy! That's the key. It always has been and always will be. I fully believe that no matter how fancy or reliable we think a storage solution is, having a single instance of data will always be a risk not worth taking. The reason the old saying "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is an old saying in the first place is because it's completely true, and is as relevant today as it was centuries ago. Great video! 👍

[filipbarabas]

I once washed in the front loading washing machine - water set at 60 degree celsius, 90 min washing cycle - by accident a cheap 4GB thumb drive. Got it out, dried and it worked fine, no data loss. I was quite amazed. 10 years later still works. Dropped it on the floor countless times. Still works fine. :)

[clarkewein]

Constant rotation of your data via evolving media is the best way to ensure your data is secured.
I used to backup to floopy, migrated to zip drives, migrated to CDs, migrated to DVDs, migrated to external drives, duplicate to cloud while keeping copies on external disks. Replacing older drives after about 3 years for new ones is a good way to make sure your data is safe incase your disk dies.

[ocardaugh]

NASA had this problem several years ago when the mag tapes holding mission data started to deteriorate. They were lucky to find some collectors who had tape drives that could read the data off of the tapes. And lest we forget the old nitrate movie film stock that's not only highly flammable, but it rots with time

[bozilla]

The most important thing is to store your data multiple copies on different types of devices stored in different physical locations. The probability of them all getting annihilated is pretty slim so you are good.

[woodwaker]

Very interesting analysis. I spent 40 years in archiving business data for commercial customers. We converted digital information to microfiche, until the late 2010 era, then everything went to CD and DVD. Microfiche last up to 500 years and archival DVD's are rated well over 100 years. Your concerns on file format and file type are well founded. As part of our service we kept backup copies of the microfiche or DVD and were put to the test when a number of our customers were in the twin towers that were destroyed on 9/11

[Mr.BrownsBasement]

As a collector of vintage computers, I have extensive experience with aging consumer grade hard drives. No, the magnetic image doesn't begin to fade. Rather, the bearings seize on the disc spindles. Or the head stepper motor seizes because the lubricant dries out. Or the rubber bumpers inside get brittle. Or the head sticks to the platter. Or any number of other failure modes. In any case, hard drives from the early 1980s and newer are becoming unreadable, and these drives have been stored in conditions that are dry and relatively temperature stable. Of course, the jury is still out on SSD's so we'll know the answer to that in 2060. The answer is not just to back up, but back up with redundancy.

[thegrimyeaper]

Online storage feels too much like taking all my private photos and putting it up on my neighbor's fridge.

[johncasey]

15 years ago, I started out with a 1.2 TB media server with 200 and 300GB drives. Over time as larger drives became less expensive, I upgraded, 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, 2TB, etc. which allowed me to stay ahead of potential drive failures and keep up with ever expanding library of movies, TV series, etc. Today I have a 72TB media server I backup onto Seagate 5TB external portable drives. They can be had on sale for as low as $130CAD. I backup every 3-6 months which ensures I don't lose data from degradation of the magnetic bits on the platters. I never lost any media except during those questionable Seagate drive times 2011/2012. Portable backups allow me access to my media via OTG cable in the event of a blackout, etc. Personally I don't look for a format that will last 40-50 years, I keep up with/move to newer smaller drives. A single 1TB micro SD or 2TB NVME in an enclosure can hold as much media as my original large media server from 15 years ago.

[vishnubhramashiva]

Well, my GF's mind is by far the best. The way she enumerates my faults when we have a fight is amazing.

[Extra-ybbd]

Bro, Is trying to take them afterlife 😂