Harddrive question

[episodic]

Ok, I hook up an eide harddrive - then I backup alot of media (photos, etc). I then unplug harddrive, and place it back in original packaging. . .

How long can I expect the data to last?

I'm looking at getting some cheap 40 giggers to back up some photos.

Thanks.

 

[pkme2]

AFAIK, forever but to prevent anything happening to it; fire, flood, EMI or anything serious, store it in a appropriate place.

If the pics are that important, how about a safe-deposited box at your bank?

I use mobile racks to pop hdds in/out of my rigs.

 

[episodic]

Yea, I was thinking of leaving it in the bank box. . .

Right now, I've got like 5 years worth of pics - around 8 gigs. . .So if I back up with the 40 gigger once a year - I should have like 10 years or more of pic storage left on it. It would be alot easier to get a 39$ 40 gig harddrive than me to mess with tons of dvd's that fade after a couple of years, etc.

 

[stogez]

I dont know about forever. I think magnetic media still has a limit to how long it can hold the magnetic charge. Same with CD/DVD media. I dont think any of them have a "forever" type of storage.

 

[episodic]

Originally posted by: stogez
I dont know about forever. I think magnetic media still has a limit to how long it can hold the magnetic charge. Same with CD/DVD media. I dont think any of them have a "forever" type of storage.

I was thinking reliably for 5-7 years.

Then I can upload them back to my current system, and restore them back to a new harddrive then and sell the old one. . .

 

[Zepper]

I would have two drives and rotate them. I would also get the latest version of SpinRite (http://www.grc.com) and do a thorough test on each around once every other year. This will refresh all the data on the drive and make sure it's aligned with the track it's supposed to be on as well as moving any data from any sector that is becoming weak and locking them out. Do the test just after you've done a new backup with one, then on the next backup, use the tested drive to do the backup, and test the other one.

SpinRite isn't cheap but it's the best drive tester I know of. Works with most PATA, SATA and SCSI drives with many formats and file systems.

.bh.

 

[Conky]

If it's only around 8 gigs worth then I would burn a couple of DVD's(and maybe a couple of copies for added insurance) and throw those into the safe deposit box.