[NTLUG:Discuss] CD Turning 25

[John K. Taber]

On Sat, 2007-08-18 at 12:34 -0700, Fred wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 Dennis Rice <dennis at dearroz.com> wrote:
> 
> > So how does one insure that data is not lost (as I have done with my 
> > old Syquest) as technology advances?  What are your thoughts and 
> > predictions?  What would you do to insure that information is not 
> > lost? 
> 
> Start with a big laser and a sheet of granite, then etch all your data onto 
> the granite. Bury it in the sand. It worked for the Egyptians. Their data 
> has lasted over 5000 years. Of course their "lasers" were chisels but 
> they work the same.
> 
> Anything else sucks in comparison, so if you're not using that method,
> be prepared for the "Syquest effect".
> 
> Fred

Except that succeeding generations of Egyptians did not appreciate those
old stone obelisks, stiles, inscribed monuments, and so on. They smashed
them up, crushed them and used the remains to build roads and other
monuments. The famed Rosetta stone was just a piece of an old obelisk
used as road bed.

What is needed is a record retention policy. 

I inherited family photos going back to the 1870s. They were baffling.
Who were all those people dressed in funny clothes? Nobody thought of
recording on the back of the pictures who they were, date, place, and
occasion for the photo. 

I daresay for all the digital photos NTLUG members have on their drives
there is no record of who, date, place, and occasion. Well, have you?

I had a relative who survived almost to 100, and she identified some of
photo people for me. That was nice, but even so the identified pictures
didn't mean much to me. So that was my second cousin three times
removed. Great. Never heard of her.

She misremembered some, misidentified several, so we cannot be sure of
her identifications. They are probably 75% correct I estimate. After
all, at the time she was 90 and those people in the photos were friends
and relatives she hadn't seen in 60 years.

I hate to say this but most data SHOULD disappear. For some perverse
reason people in the computer business feel that every bit in every byte
is precious and should be preserved forever. Preservation should be the
exception, not the rule.

My advice is work out what should be preserved -- remember, preservation
is the exception. This data should be needed in the future rather than
gee, maybe, this might could be nice to have. Needed, not nice. And once
past its need, get rid of it.

<\end rant>

John