Best Way To Store Digital Video For 20 Years?

An anonymous reader writes "My kid is now 1 year old and I already have 100G of digital video (stored on DVDs, DVD quality) and photos. How should I store it so that it's still readable 10 to 20 years from now? Will DVDs stil be around, and readable, 10 years from now? Should I plan for technology changes every 5 to 10 years (DVD->Blue-ray->whatever)? Is optical storage better, or should I try to use hard drives (making technology changes automatic)? And, if the answer is optical, how do you store optical disks so that they last?"

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[Anonymous Coward]

store it in analog engravings in diamond

Optical

[PawNtheSandman]

Well why not optical platters? We have 50 year retainment requirements for certain documents and were looking at Plasmon optical devices. They claim it will still be readable and are the only type of backup media that survived both 9/11 and Katrina. Although when I asked if it was the same cartridge that survived both, the vendor gave me a dirty look. I think though you would be fine with dvd-r and just make a new copy every 5 years.

Optical?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only wimps use optical media, _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp and let the rest of the world mirror it.

Someone actually had sex on this site?

[Anonymous Coward]

My kid is now 1 year old and I already have 100G of digital video

Riiiight, this is /.

So people: How can this guy be sure that in 10/20 years time his Bangbus collection will still be readable?

Stone Carvings

[decipher_saint]

Step 1: Review video footage.
Step 2: Carve memorable/important parts into stone.
Step 3: ??? (mummies?)
Step 4: Profit!

One word, USENET.

[Roskolnikov]

Video I posted 20 years ago is still there....

Simple - disguise it as porn

[pwnies]

1. Rename to "xxx 18yr old bj strip"
2. Upload to P2P protocol of choice.
Let it proliferate around the internet and retrieve it when necessary.

Re:Stone Carvings

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

Step 1: Review video footage.
Step 2: Carve memorable/important parts into stone.
Step 3: ??? (commandments?)
Step 4: Prophet!

Live your life, don't record it

[Anonymous Coward]

Quit being creepy by chronicling every time your kid goes number 2. He'll thank you, as will everyone else who knows you.

Re:keep copying it

[The Aethereal]

As I understand it, holomagical disks will be loaded with so much DRM, nobody will be allowed to view the contents. Period.

transporter loop

[bugs2squash]

Collude with a friend to email back and forth encrypted copies of your photos. Arrange for them to be perpetually stored in transit on somebody-else's mail server awaiting delivery.

Better still - uucp them over some convoluted circular path back to yourself.

Or rig up an ultra-high-speed moonbounce communications system...

Just keep them all in motion and they won't get lost.

Re:Simple - disguise it as porn

[Joe the Lesser]

hey where can I get that file?

Re:Tape

[fahrbot-bot]

tape is still one of the best archival storage types

Duct, Electrical, Masking or Transparent?

Re:HDDs

[Anonymous Coward]

HDDs are so cheap. Buy an external one with like a terabyte of space. Fill it up, rinse, repeat.

Wait, is this some special technique to fortify the data on the drive? And it sounds like this actually doubles the space on the drive after I rinse it. Does this require distilled water, or will tap water do?

Hard Copies

[rhesuspieces00]

Print the bits out on paper to be scanned later, as necessary. You should make several copies and store them in different locations incase of fire or water damage. To answer your next question: Land in Montana and the Yukon territory is cheap.

Re:HDDs

[lgw]

Oops! Dammit, preview, preview!

Re:CDs still a pain. Keep it alive and available.

[twistedcubic]

Man, you got really upset over that RAID suggestion. With a name like 900ftJesus, I would have expected a more kinder, gentler approach.

Re:CDs are still readable

[Mister Whirly]

Back then we had to hand flatten the metal parts ourselves and burn them using a magnifying glass and the sun. And unless you had like 3 espressos, the only speed you could do it at was 1X.

Re:Stone Carvings

[Anonymous Coward]

Step 2: Carve memorable/important parts into stone.

I tried with my ex-wife's family family album photos [wikimedia.org] and boy are my arms tired!

Re:How about print on paper?

[snowraver1]

Oh are we allowing theoretical products? In that case I would back up to a specialized bacteria. I would encode the data in it's DNA and allow it to replicate regularly. Even better news, after 20 years, I'll have billions of copys to give to fanily and friends! It's win-win!

Re:CDs still a pain. Keep it alive and available.

[RickRussellTX]

WW900FTJD?

Re:Optical?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wimps use the internet. _real_men employ 10,000 monks scratching 1s and 0s onto slate tablets.

Re:Look at it this way:

[bennomatic]

Give him a break. I'm sure he interacts plenty, but insists on only using the highest quality PRO-HD camera. That 100 GB is only nine minutes of video!

Re:Gold Disks

[uncqual]

Be careful though... When burning these, it's critical that you only use gold [USB, SATA, PATA] cables to connect your burner to your computer. Otherwise the bits on the media will degrade quickly due to galvanic corrosion.

Re:CDs still a pain. Keep it alive and available.

[Anonymous Coward]

WW900FTJD?

Obviously he would use a tape.

Re:Gold Disks

[74nova]

well, it's like a weakest link, right? the bits have to go over non-gold wire, so they lose quality there.

Re:CDs still a pain. Keep it alive and available.

[satoshi1]

Is that the serial number for a new western digital/fujitsu hybrid drive???

Re:How about print on paper?

[Omestes]

Lets see the *AA deal with that, imagine the copyright violations!

Though you have to worry about mutations, drift and such. Eventually the picture of your cat will turn into a lolcat, just by pure weight of evolution.

Re:CDs still a pain. Keep it alive and available.

[ChameleonDave]

I don't think you would be interested in videos of my kids.

I'm a paedophile, you insensitive clod!

Re:CDs are still readable

[Walt Dismal]

Well, if you want longevity, I suggest papyrus over CDs. However, finding Egyptian Teletypes that can still read punched papyrus is murder. The Computer History Museum has only one, and it's constantly in use by some odd fellow wrapped all in rags and things. He keeps muttering 'ahnksen ahmen" and burning tanna leaves, too. Queer duck. I think he programs in COBOL.