Best method for long term storage of digital data?

Question

What is the best and most reliable way to store digital data for the long term? By long-term, I mean at least 5-10 years.
Would it be optical discs, magnetic tape, flash memory devices, hard disc drives, or maybe something else?

Answer 1

I would say at this moment the best way for long-term storage of digital data could be very well DVD-RAM !!!! - Those are very reliable, they have a very long time life, and you can re-write them up to 1,000,000 times (that's one million times).

Magnetic has the problem that it could be erased easily by strong magetic fields around the media. - Hard disks can crash easily, the electronics can break, the platters can get scratched and corrupt the data, the average life of a hard disk is around 3-4 years. - In the past I used tape for backups, and when I needed the backup the most, either the tape drive was broke, or the tape corrupted, and I could not recover my backup data when I needed the most, so those are not good anymore. At least the systems that we have/had as consumer, I would not doubt banks and government institutions might still use tape backups out there that are extremely very reliable, but don't count on my word, I don't know that part.

Optical could be affected by scratches, but if you keep them well preserved in a safe place where they won't get scratched, I would say again that DVD-RAM would be my choice.

Go DVD-RAM! :)

I hope this helped.

Answer 2

yeh dvds or external hardrives, personally i prefer dvds lot cheaper even if you have to copy data onto a new dvd every year or so, starting with the earliest

Answer 3

I would prefer DVD's. That's the best way to go.

Answer 4

DVD's will last for years properly stored.

Answer 5

the HD will depend on the manufacturer. and if you put in in a box with bubble wrap, insulation, and newspaper. that should keep the dust down and humidity.