Re: Archiving very old paper diagrams, drawings and text
- From: Ian Stirling <root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 01 Jun 2005 11:29:31 GMT
In sci.physics Robert Latest <boblatest@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" header set to sci.electronics.design.]
> On 2005-05-31, Isaac Wingfield <isw@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>> Chances are the paper will live longer than the e-image. Paper lives a
>>> *long* time. Disk drives? CDs? The idea is good, but I'm not so sure
>>> about the implementaion.
>>
>> Doesn't matter how far into the future you can get a CD drive. Once the
>> images are digitized, it's trivial to migrate them from one storage
>> medium to another as each becomes obsolescent. That's just impossible
>> with paper. And, whatever "quailty" loss is experienced due to the
>> digitizing process, *that's all*. It'll never degrade further the way
>> paper would.
>
> So much for theory. The brief history of digital storage has
> taught us, however, that digital data has a much shorter life
> than paper -- either because of physical deterioration of the
> media, or because the regular transfer to modern media has been
> neglected.
>
> People are not that disciplined. Important data --both in private
> households and companies-- will continue to be stowed away in
> cartons on attics and forgotten about; a process that "analog"
> media (paper, records, films) are known to survive with no great
> (but of course some) loss.
>
> The big advantage of "analog" media is that the contents are
> always human-readable with no or little technical effort, even
> when they have sustained considerable damage.
>
>> Plus, once the documents are digitized, it's possible to have several
>> *identical* copies in disparate locations, which adds even more
>> durability to the documents.
>
> This is only a plus if all these copies are continuously
> maintained -- stored properley, checked frequently for integrity,
> and re-copied regularly. This just multiplied the time and effort
> required to keep them around.
>
> To sum it up: Things that need permanent attention just to stay
> extant aren't going to be around for long. Digital data is one
> such thing.
>
>> Indexing, cataloging, accessing and so forth are also far easier with a
>> set of computer files.
>
> Of course.
I dunno.
I've got 3 CDs with all my early floppies on them.
And a DVD with all 3 CDs on (actually 2, one in a safe place if the house
burns down).
With the rise of storage media capacity, keeping stuff older than the last
generation tends to be almost free.
.
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