Re: HDD long-term data storage with ensured integrity
For offline storage:
On Tue, Apr 02, 2024 at 05:53:15AM -0700, David Christensen wrote:
> Does anyone have any comments or suggestions regarding how to use magnetic
> hard disk drives, commodity x86 computers, and Debian for long-term data
> storage with ensured integrity?
I use LVM on ext4, and I add a MD5SUMS file at the root.
I then power up the drives at least once a year and check the MD5SUMS.
A simple CRC could also work, obviously.
So far, I have not detected MORE corruption with this method than the
drive ECC itself (current drives & buses are much better than they
used to be). When I have errors detected, I replace the file with
another copy (I usually have multiple off-site copies, and sometimes
even on-site online copies, but not always). When the errors add
up, it is time to buy another drive, usually after 5+ years or
even sometimes 10+ years.
So, just re-reading the content might be enough, once a year or so.
This is for HDD (for SDD I have no offline storage experience, it
could be shorter).
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