Article on long-term storage of electronic data

[HeiressofBickworth]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-our-digital-footprint-could-be-lost-to-future-generations-2015-02-18


"Some data stored on outdated technology like VHS tapes, vinyl records, cassette tapes and floppy disks has already been lost, said Vint Cerf, a vice president at Google, who is largely considered one of the founding fathers of the Internet.

And that is just the beginning, he told a conference last week hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The lack of an electronic storage mechanism that can withstand centuries of time threatens to erode documents and digitally-stored memories through a process he has often referred to as “bit rot.”

[sybylla]

1. I always back up my data on to new systems as they come along

Any floppies I had for storing data in the 90s have long ago been backed up on to CD's or flash drives. The only legacy storage I have are 100 meg zip disks that I have my business backed up on. And I'm about to clean them off as well.

Even so, I plan to keep an old computer with a floppy and a zip drive just in case I find something I missed.