Long-term storage of digital photos
Sam,
Every reference to longevity of data stored on flash media that I've read indicates that the expected data retention is 10 years, nominal. I would expect the SLC to retain the data longer than the MLC.
You will find your concerns regarding long-term storage addressed at:
tasi.ac.uk
Here is an excerpt from the above article regarding storage on CDs:
"It is thought that the reflective property of 'gold' discs is higher than that of cyanine-based 'green' discs, and some manufacturers claim the durability of such CD-Rs is over 100 years. Other physical characteristics such as dye thickness can also have an effect on the longevity of the media.
Without yet being able to see what happens to a CD-R after a period of 25 years, yet alone 100, it is impossible to say how durable one type will be compared to another. The results of a 1999 quality test, which subjected a range of manufacturers' CD-Rs to an artificial aging process, can be found at cdmediaworld.com. While gold discs might well be worth the extra cost, 'normal' quality discs made by reputable manufacturers should be acceptable for archive use, as long as all care is taken to burn them correctly."
Please note that storage on DVD is not mentioned [NHP].
Sony's Blue-Ray DVD, which has a capacity of 23 to 25 GBytes, has just hit the Japanese market. The price that I saw is $4,750 for the recorder-player, and one disk sells for $40. Interesting!
Since your problem is not unique, I would expect some company at some time to optimize the recorder and media combination for maximum retention of data..
I don't know too much about optomagnetic recording, but that might be a possibility. At least it is difficult to lose data because of exposure to magnetic fields at room temperature.
NHP |
