[ftio]

Other than continuously copying files to new media every so often, are there reliable digital mechanisms for long-term storage (say, 50 years)?

[boilerupnc]

DNA Data storage looks promising [0].

“Another challenge in conventional storage media is their unsuitability for long-term storage, with optical discs, solid-state drives, and hard-disk drives having lifespans of 25 years, 12 years, and 10 years, respectively […] Moreover, the stability of DNA was proved by the successful recovery of ancient DNA under burial conditions. The studies have shown that preservation of DNA does not require additional energy for data storage.“ [1]

[0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-58386-z

[1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13534-024-00386-z

[krater23]

Oh interesting. Let me store this DNA sequence that is occasinal the sequence of the spanish flue...

[telgareith]

No, DNA is terrible. Microsoft's Project Silica seems to be the contender for indefinite, maintenance free, storage. But, there's the whole "It's Glass" issue.

[lnauta]

Microsoft is working on storing in glass tiles, which should last up to 10.000 years [1]. Its not commercial yet though.

[1] https://unlocked.microsoft.com/sealed-in-glass/

[gfv]

Yes, you can chuck your SSD into a freezer. Data retention time increases exponentially in lower temperatures, so keeping it in a regular +4C fridge is enough to extend retention by decades.

Just remember to heat up the disk before writing and after storage.

https://www.ni.com/en/support/documentation/supplemental/18/...

[hinkley]

What about frost?

[kev009]

There are multiple problems. Storing stems or a rendered mix can be fully durable with some care to replicate it sufficiently. But what of for instance the session files, which are likely tied to custom hardware which eventually becomes scarce.

Object storage is a fine proposition for long term retention but it does nothing for the organizational problem that someone needs to continuously pay the bill and ensure the provider didn't lose anything, and that can easily get lost in M&A, estate liquidation, etc.

The bottom line is, if something is worth saving, you need someone to take on the role of archivist that will balance the technical and economic changes that go with preservation. There is nothing passive about it unless hope is the strategy.

[ahazred8ta]

There are high density binary microfilm optical formats on archival grade film stock that should be stable for several hundred years. Although tbh I'm an M-DISC guy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_tape -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_Once_Read_Forever

[smitty1e]

Object storage in the cloud is likely to succeed there, but then cost and security issues arise.

If data are encrypted, then managing keys is another pain/cost dimension.

At the several decade point, keeping copies at multiple vendors becomes a discussion point, since even Google and Amazon are not likely to be immortal, and that Ukrainian data center might experience physical security challenges.

[krater23]

There was days where a complete bunch of cloud users lost all their data. So, no, this will not succeed too.

[1970-01-01]

M-Discs have solved it. Obviously, we don't have 2000 years of data rot to verify it truly works.

[teslabox]

> M-Discs have solved it.

I have an M-Disc writer and some M-Disc DVDs, so I took note of this submission ~2 years ago:

PSA: Verbatim no longer sells real M Discs, now puts regular BD-Rs in M Disc packaging - https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/yu4j1u/psa_ver... / https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33593967

[ThrowawayTestr]

How long do the disc readers last?

[creer]

Release the files to the fans?

[metaltyphoon]

Want longer? Seems like MS has a solution?

https://youtu.be/-rfEYd4NGQg?si=QoCve6CAPajmmBiX

[SoftTalker]

No.