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Files May Be Fleeting

As formats change, your digital data could be endangered

By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 7, 2008 1:29 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Cuneiform tablets have kept information safe across millenia, but hard drives have lifespans of just a few years. Even if your CDs survive the century, their players might have become obsolete, warns the Boston Globe. "Who knows how long they're going to last—how much time before the information on a zip disk just goes into cyberspace heaven," said one archivist.

With digital information storage beset by the ravages of time on one side and format changes on the other, how can you be sure your old emails are safe? If you don't want to print them out, the best bet may be continually updating their file formats. People are already using such rescue techniques on their old 45s and cassette tapes.

Once cassette players have gone entirely the way of the eight-track and Betamax, their information will be virtually irretrievable.
Once cassette players have gone entirely the way of the eight-track and Betamax, their information will be virtually irretrievable.   (Flickr)
If you want to hold on to the data you've moved to CDs, chances are you'll have to transfer it to new forms of digital storage technology several times in the next few decades.
If you want to hold on to the data you've moved to CDs, chances are you'll have to transfer it to new forms of digital storage technology several times in the next few decades.   (Flickr)
Cuneiform tablets have lasted for millenia, but a DVD may only hold its encoded information for just 20 years, some researchers think.
Cuneiform tablets have lasted for millenia, but a DVD may only hold its encoded information for just 20 years, some researchers think.   (Flickr)
This ancient fragment of the Dead Seas Scrolls was written over 2000 years ago, and can still be read. The same won't be true for most current methods of storing data.
This ancient fragment of the Dead Seas Scrolls was written over 2000 years ago, and can still be read. The same won't be true for most current methods of storing data.   (HighBeam)
If you still have a computer that can read one of these little guys, you're in the minority.
If you still have a computer that can read one of these little guys, you're in the minority.   (Flickr)
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Blu-ray may be here for a while, but hold off
Gaston Gazette

More data means more need for digital storage
Market Wire

 
DVD • CDs • book • information technology • digital storage • cassette tape • digital media • obsolete technology

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