Digital memories won't last forever

Deseret Morning News ^ | 11.29.04 | Katie Hafner Katie Hafner Katie Hafner Katie Hafner

[Semi Civil Servant]

I meant 2104. Brain fog.

[Blue Highway]

"As long as you keep your data files somewhat readable, you'll be able to go to the equivalent of Kinko's where they'll have every ancient computer available," said Schwartz.

That's a comforting thought that some place will keep an Atari 800 machine running, with an 810 disk drive so I can move over all my 5 1/4" disks to DVD's. Now I can sleep at night.

[Blue Highway]

I have a ca. 1981 ATT PC which still runs Wordstar very nicely. Am trying to figure out how on EARTH to get some of the data off the hard drive and onto my regular computer. My sixteen-year-old daughter's baby journal is on there and it's precious. So are the early novels I wrote but never published, which are now suddenly in demand. If anyone has any suggestions short of retyping, please let me know!

I am hoping you say you have a printer on the old machine. If so make a print-out and then if you have a scanner on your new machine scan it in, and your scanner most likelty has OCR recognition and you can save it as a text file or some other current readable filetype.

[xander]

LOL, yeah, I think it was floppy to zip, to cd, to dvd and soon too be, I'm sure, memory sticks in some form.

I try to stay current with the latest technologies. I use less DVDs than cds so I have less to sort through, but on the other side I still keep my cd's just-in-case something happens to a DVD, or I'll make duplicate DVD's. I'm not sure DVDs are better than CDs, just that they store more so I use less of them. They are still trying to iron out whether they will use the +R or -R DVD format. I use +R for data and -R for video.

[xander]

I think it's a good idea to keep at least two formats until the third format becomes popular. We are finally starting to see the dissapearance of the floppy disk, but like you I dumped a bunch of them after Zip and CD became popular.

[BJungNan]

I have already run into this problem. We have discs with my daughter's artwork on it. But, it is in a file format that we can not open on our new computers.

[Nowhere Man]

I have pictures of my grandparents that date back to around 1900 and some perhaps older than that. I don't think CD's are going to last that long, and even if they do, there might not be anything to retrieve the info that's on them. When my daughter was little, my brother taped her talking into a tape recorder; try to find a reel-to-reel tape player anymore. Also my daughter's wedding was videotaped, and it's getting harder to find VCRs now. I think I'll stick with the conventional camera.

I still have a 1964 Sony Tapecorder 600 stereo reel-to-reel tape deck that was my fathers. My parents recorded the audio to the 1965 "This is Barbra" Streisand CBS special and one Frank Sinatra special from November of 1968. Last time I looked, they are still playable. I'd like to archive them to disc. Back in the late 1950's, it was estimated that the video tape of the time would last for 1400 years if stored in a good enough environment away from heat and moisture.

[Blue Highway]

I believe all the answers to this conundrum can be found at Zombo.com

[Godebert]

Bump for future reference.

[derlauerer]

Bump so I can find this again.

[itsahoot]

Try looking here

http://www.cerious.com/formats.shtml

[zeugma]

WOW! Thanks for the link! Looks like it's time for me to find out how much fixing the sucker will cost...

[Recall]

ROFL OMG, our first computer (if memory serves me right) was around 1994, it held less than 2 gigs and it was around $2,000.

I can't tell you the hours I spent deleting txt files etc. to free up space. Man, we were in heaven with that zip
drive. Now, all files, pics are on CD's but I didn't think about well kept CD's losing there data.

We did get an external hard drive to keep all of our computers backed up. Memory Sticks? Are you making this up?

[ashtanga]

I was told that DVDs would last forever. Now I have get a little plastic bootie to place over the suckers so that they don't scratch. Same with CDs. My albums from thirty years ago play fine. Hmm...

[quietolong]

I just happen to have my C128 still setup and working with a tape, 5” & 3” drives
And a program Big Blue Reader. Which allows Commodore & IBM formats to be read
in each computer.
I still use it for development work and teaching the kids computers & programming.
Still use the C64 for games.
Kids now days don’t know what computers are!


The World's Earliest Television Recordings - Restored!
http://www.tvdawn.com/index.htm

[R. Scott]

BASIC - a great language for kids to learn with!

[dd5339]

Ping

[TexasRepublic]

Google is your friend. Try searching "DVD-RAM" or "Magneto Optical" if you want to learn about them.

[quietolong]

LOL You must not be a programmer to make a statement like that! It would be blasphemy if you were a C guy.
C the most obtuse programming language there is.

BASIC is better for most to start off with. Just declaring variables will lose most on the others.

It’s why I think most programmers like C It lets them keep there “ Black Magic” mystic with non-programmers.

[R. Scott]

BASIC is better for most to start off with. Just declaring variables will lose most on the others.

I learned BASIC easily – as I said – great for kids to learn on. I’ve tried to understand others, but can’t even get MSDOS. Does the brain really get locked down at 50?