I have a paper tape punch that does Mylar. too bad the
density is so low and the cost of Mylar is so high! I
too worry about preserving this type of history. I've
been playing with my PDP-8 and its software, and I
wonder what the oldest existing program that actually
runs might be...
I once worked with a 3M representative when the
company I was working for was getting into CD-ROMS and
CD-R's. He claimed that eventually, CD's that are
factory made would suffer from moisture migration
(same as a chip) unless they used a gold and not
aluminum layer. He said that with the formulas
available at the time (mid-90's), they thought but
would not guarantee that CD-R's would last from 25-100
years if kept in a cool, dark, dry place when not
used. I know for certain that the dye formulas have
changed since then. Anyone else know more recent data?
I own a music CD from the dawn of the CD era
(mid-80's?) and it still plays perfectly (although
this is no indication of data integrity). At that
time, I think they cost maybe $25 and the "jewel box"
was so well made you could use it to prop up a table
leg! Now you look at them funny and they crack or
break.
--- "R. D. Davis" <rdd_at_rddavis.org> wrote:
> Quothe Douglas H. Quebbeman, from writings of Thu,
> Apr 04, 2002 at 04:52:58PM -0500:
> > from the SIMTEL archive. As it turns out, the
> QIC-80 tape
> > they're on must have stretched, and I only wrote
> one set
>
> Sorry to hear that this happened to your tape. :-(
>
> I'm becoming convinced that the safest way to
> preserve software is to
> keep it on a live filesystem that's frequently
> backed up, using at
> least one type of relatively modern storage media -
> or at least on
> mylar tape, although that's impractical for large
> amounts of data (and
> impractical for me because I haven't acquired a tape
> punch/reader
> yet). Any thoughts on this?
>
> --
> Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference
> between humans & other animals:
> All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief
> that we're above Nature &
> rdd_at_rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures,
> using dogma to justify such
> http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to
> justify much human cruelty.
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Received on Fri Apr 05 2002 - 00:47:03 BST