The CD was perhaps 4-5 years old; the surface of the CD just 'dissolved'; I recovered some of the data from that part of the disk still viable. Do you know anything of the reliability of thumb drives [other than magnetic corruption]? I have some of my data backed up on a few thumb drives + an SD card.
***I have a pile of zip discs and no zip player and no computer with software to read them***
Yeah... me too... about ten on a disk-stacking frame - good for collecting dust. 🤦 Doh!
***Is it worth my finding an disk player and a archived system that has software to read them? ... ("Πάντα ῥεῖ" everything flows)***
Κράτιστε! in a bit over my head here :^) There is 'the cloud'... I have doubts as to security plus long-term access, but I am a complete plebe.
***If something is really important, material printed on acid free paper does last, if you can keep insects away. (Think linen or papyrus paper in St Catherine's monastery.) Fired Sumerian clay tablets last! (Yes, he sold 15 sheep for a tun of olive oil and 1 amphora of new wine!)***
😺 LOL! I suppose that I could buy a kiln... Ashurbanipal (אָסְנַפַּר) might have one for sale. Unhappily, my cuneiform is terrible!
Also, I may be becoming obsolete... 🌚 eventually...
The best Disc media uses a thin gold film. Memory sticks do not last copy the data every three or four years. I am lucky that I have an 8 year old computer that has only had 1 drive. I do have a backup drive.
Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus; Everything flows, everything is in flux, nothing is permanent, change is the only permanent thing, cant step in the same river twice. A reference to the impermanence of digital media. (God is permanent, we like flowers of the field wither and fade etc. Alas. I am feeling impermanent today.)