OT: Archival storage

[Chuck Guzis]

This whole discussion about the volatility of storage reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend who's a professional archivist.  I asked her what medium was used for archival storage--CD-ROM, DVD, etc.?

Paper.  No ifs ands or buts about it.

We can read paper that's been around for centuries; more than we can say for Zip disks or 8" floppies.    Paper has outlasted everything but stone and baked clay tablets. 

And she's right--I have things in my filing cabinet that relate to microprocessors, such as the handout from the 8008 rollout announcement at Intel (looks to almost be mimeographed, but was probably just typed with a fabric ribbon).  

I've got software design documents printed on 14" tractor-feed paper whose target  systems have long disappeared.  I've a few 7-track 556 bpi mag tapes, but no drive to read 'em on, so they're not particularly useful, even if the oxide doesn't flake off when I try to read them.

So, if it's important, paper is THE medium.  Maybe it doesn't have great recording density, but it's pretty permanent as things go.

Cheers,
Chuck