Re: [semi-OT] Data archiving (was Re: Query on adding a USB hdd)
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On 05/24/07 18:58, Douglas Allan Tutty wrote:
> On Thu, May 24, 2007 at 06:08:21PM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote:
> >
>>> There is something to be said for casting something in plain text in
>>> bronze and gold plating it.
>> Buffered lignin-free paper.
>>
>
> Burns.
>
> Bronze melts.
>
> Pottery breaks.
>
> Acid rain eats granite.
>
> I guess the bottom line is that information that is not used is
> eventually lost. It must be taught always to new generations, either
> people or hardware/software.
>
> Hard drives have spare sectors and reassign when sectors become
> degraded; they 'teach' a new sector the information from an old sector.
> If the drive is on the shelf, we have to spin it up and get the drive to
> test all sectors. When enough sectors get bad, SMART tells us so we can
> "teach" a new drive the old drive's data.
>
> Data is never maintenance-free.
>
> I know, Ron, I'm preaching to the choir.
A once-a-year spin-up, fsck and "unzip -t" (of compressed tarballs)
would be darned useful.
Externally-enclosed hard drives won't need to worry about whether
they are SATA or IDE, but if USB ever goes away, it's time to
migrate to a modern external drive.
- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.
Hit him with a fish, and he goes away for good!
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