Storage For The Next 5,000 Years

Storage For The Next 5,000 Years. Tom Coughlin. Forbes. Dec 15, 2015.
     We are creating as much information annually as mankind generated from the beginning of civilization to a few years ago. Some of the data is temporary while other data has longer-term value and may be useful in the future. As we generate and save more data the question is whether we can actually keep the data the long term with hardware or format obsolescence. "But even if data is transferred from older formats/media to modern formats regularly natural processes driven mostly by thermal energy can destroy data over time. The longer the data is kept the greater the chance of data corruption". 

Keeping data for a long time can be expensive and requires management and multiple copies of data on different hardware. While large organizations with valuable content can afford to protect their data, smaller organizations or consumers will find it difficult, though one way may be to move the data to managed cloud storage data centers where it can be managed by professionals. "Carrying data into the far future will require careful management of data to support multiple copies and continuous detection and elimination of data corruption". On-line archives may be able to provide access and archived data.

Digital Preservation Matters.