[mmt]

> the right sterile environment

This has echos of No True Scotsman. Computer storage media also have ideal conditions that can be used to extend their lifetimes (though, granted, not indefinitely, AFAIK).

What about in real conditions, subject to things like temperature variations (including "extreme" heat that non-operating computer hardware can do just fine in), exposure to light, humidity from the air (to put it back into aqueous solution occasionally), and common oxiders found floating around in the air?

Could one rely on an arbitrary single strand to last even 5 years in an office environment, or are numerous, RAID1-style, copies required to maintain fidelity?