I don't follow this exact procedure, but I do something similar.
I have a bunch of external drives. They go back to ~100GB parallel-ATA drives in external USB enclosures. I think I have ~10 generations of disks in play right now. I've spent less than $2,000 on drives in ~20 years. I probably should have purchased a few more disks over the years since I went >18 months between generations and sometimes 24-30 months.
I wrote some simple scripts to copy the contents to a new drive, compare hashes of the copy to the source, and store the hashes for any new files on the new copy. It's mostly automated. The only thing I've thought about adding is perhaps using PAR2 to add some bitrot protection.
I keep the most recent disk at home and copy files to it throughout the year. (I keep it unplugged most of the time.) When I buy a new disk I run my copy scripts then take the old drive to a relative's house and store it in their gun safe. (Lately I've been the oldest drive from the safe and marveling at the old technology. >smile<)
30 years now in a more organized fashion, 40 years if you count disorganized.
Some of my older drives are no longer recognized by the drivers anymore.
I've had several drives completely fail, and one I dropped that never worked again.
I've used CDROMS, DVD-Rs, zip drives, and even cartridge tape for a while, but the hard drives work the best. I still have the cartridge tapes, but no way to read them anymore. Same with zip disks, can no longer read them.
EvanAnderson|4 years ago
I have a bunch of external drives. They go back to ~100GB parallel-ATA drives in external USB enclosures. I think I have ~10 generations of disks in play right now. I've spent less than $2,000 on drives in ~20 years. I probably should have purchased a few more disks over the years since I went >18 months between generations and sometimes 24-30 months.
I wrote some simple scripts to copy the contents to a new drive, compare hashes of the copy to the source, and store the hashes for any new files on the new copy. It's mostly automated. The only thing I've thought about adding is perhaps using PAR2 to add some bitrot protection.
I keep the most recent disk at home and copy files to it throughout the year. (I keep it unplugged most of the time.) When I buy a new disk I run my copy scripts then take the old drive to a relative's house and store it in their gun safe. (Lately I've been the oldest drive from the safe and marveling at the old technology. >smile<)
WalterBright|4 years ago
WalterBright|4 years ago
Some of my older drives are no longer recognized by the drivers anymore.
I've had several drives completely fail, and one I dropped that never worked again.
I've used CDROMS, DVD-Rs, zip drives, and even cartridge tape for a while, but the hard drives work the best. I still have the cartridge tapes, but no way to read them anymore. Same with zip disks, can no longer read them.
dwebfan|4 years ago