HD Floppies in DD Drives

From: William Donzelli <william_at_ans.net>
Date: Fri Nov 14 09:01:59 1997

> For greatest archive longevity, I'm told that tape (pick something common,
> such as QIC-80) *if recorded on a new tape and then not read often* will
> outlast anything -- even CD-ROM's.

I would really doubt this. The oxide coating on just about any tape,
digital or analog, flakes off even if never used. As for CD-ROMs, I would
say that the stamped ones (normal ones) will probably last for a very
long time - the plastic and aluminum have so far proved to be stable, and
the data is recorded with a massive amount of error correcting code.
Writable CD-ROMs, however, I am a bit skeptical about, but my gut feeling
says that they will last at least ten years. The best solution (other than
mylar punched tape) is probably the older WORM drives (not MOs!), as they
actually punch holes in the inner layers of the disk. The problem with
them is the "standard" they follow (not much!).

William Donzelli
william_at_ans.net
Received on Fri Nov 14 1997 - 09:01:59 GMT