Message-Id: <199610170214.VAA28181@library.wustl.edu> Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 19:08:08 PDT From: Ricky Erway <mailto:BL.RLE@RLG.ORG> Subject: Re: image storage To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB
REPLY TO 10/16/96 14:51 FROM mailto:IMAGELIB@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU "IMAGELIB": Re: image storageRe: longevity of Kodak PhotoCD Jaz and Zip These use proprietary formats, therefore you ought to worry more about the format than about the medium. One could make arguments about the likely longevity of the companies that own the formats and their willingness to continue to support and/or license the use of the formats. Format aside, Kodak's PhotoCD uses the standard for multisession CDs. CDs are considered to offer better data longevity than magnetic media. Some special CDs ("century disks") are guaranteed to last 100 years. [D The writeable CDs (CD-R) are likely to have less longevity than those that are pressed and sealed in a protective coating. Most important is the ability to read the disks (will there be operating CD drives in a hundred years? will there be software that can decode the format/compression? what about displays? will what we now know as computers be a brain implant by then...) Longevity depends on responsible data archiving, refreshing, migration, etc. When choosing between PhotoCD, Jaz, Zip and other approaches, select something you think you will be able to get out of in 2-5 years, at which point you (or your data archivist) will make the decision over again.
Ricky
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