Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right community for my question, but as my daily driver is Linux, it feels somewhat relevant.

I have a lot of data on my backup drives, and recently added 50GB to my already 300GB of storage (I can already hear the comments about how low/high/boring that is). It’s mostly family pictures, videos, and documents since 2004, much of which has already been compressed using self-made bash scripts (so it’s Linux-related ^^).

I have a lot of data that I don’t need regular access to and won’t be changing anymore. I’m looking for a way to archive it securely, separate from my backup but still safe.

My initial thought was to burn it onto DVDs, but that’s quite outdated and DVDs don’t hold much data. Blu-ray discs can store more, but I’m unsure about their longevity. Is there a better option? I’m looking for something immutable, safe, easy to use, and that will stand the test of time.

I read about data crystals, but they seem to be still in the research phase and not available for consumers. What about using old hard drives? Don’t they need to be powered on every few months/years to maintain the magnetic charges?

What do you think? How do you archive data that won’t change and doesn’t need to be very accessible?

Cheers

  • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼English
    6•2 months ago

    I use LTO magnetic tape for archiving data, but unfortunately the tape drives are VERY expensive. The tape itself is relatively cheap though (this is a 5-pack at 12TB uncompressed, 30TB compressed per cardridge, totaling at 60TB uncompressed, 150TB compressed. This is a lot cheaper than hard drives, and lasts for much longer), has large storage capacity and 30+ years of shelf life. Yes, I know, LTO 9 has come out, but I won’t be upgrading, because LTO 8 works just fine for me, and is much cheaper. The drives are backwards compatible by one generation though, e.g. you can use LTO 8 tape in an LTO 9 drive.

    • @ouch
      2•2 months ago

      5 k€? No wonder no one uses tape for home usage. You can come up with a lot of cheaper alternatives for that price.