Long term Data Archive Solutions
 

I am curious about what people use/have used in the past, and what kind of results they have from a specific method(s)?

I am currently looking more into a archiving digital data for years to come and would love to hear from people who have either had success or failure with some methods. Right now, my plan would be getting a docking station for a separate HDD's. Meaning, you plug the dock into a USB port and transfer the data into the HDD that way. It's easy plug 'n' play method and the only failure that might occur is a single HDD or the docking station itself.

However, if there are better and/or more safe ways to storage data for a longer period of time, please, tell me!

Re: Long term Data Archive Solutions
 

Not to be a wise-guy, but if you have VERY deep pockets and are the patient type:

Scientists Store King Speech, Shakespeare Sonnets in DNA - WSJ.com

Hopefully someone will contribute a more practical suggestions...

Tim

Re: Long term Data Archive Solutions
 

You have to define your time horizon before a rational decision can be made. Remember that the storage device interface must be compatible with future hardware, e.g. if the USB interface goes away in a few years like the parallel port, you might have a harder time accessing your data. LTO storage has a large footprint in the legacy storage world so probably good if your time horizon is more than a few years.

Re: Long term Data Archive Solutions
 

My time frame would be as long as I live, so let's just say a bit exaggerated, 100 years.
Data I'm planning on storing is mostly for my personal use. It's not for a company or anything like that, so I don't really want to pay a huge fortune to get some decent storing equipment. I am willing to pay something, but moderation at everything.

I don't see a problem with this since the docking station is the only one using the USB, not the HDD itself.
Here's one example of what I mean.

I checked LTO and the tape prices itself were tempting (3TB for about 60-90€/80-120$), but the tape drive by HP that I saw, which was capable of doing 1,6TB was about 3700€. That's INSANE!
Are all of these drives so expensive?

Re: Long term Data Archive Solutions
 

I'd check on a well known site beginning with A, they seem to have LTO kit for a lot less.