Long term data storage solution

bigjimmyauk · 5 Dec 2011 at 12:35

Right time to back up the family photo albums and i'm wondering what the best way to go about it is.

have about 4000 photos i want kept safe so to speak, currently i have them copied across 2 internal drives and 1 external. but now i'm thinking long term storage off the computer as i don't really access them to often.

I was thinking multiple DVD's
buy a blu ray writer
Some usb drives

(how long is the storage life of a disc media, say how many years can it be left stored away before the disc becomes naff or unreadable as i imagine they don't last a lifetime)

I'd love them all on paper but have no room for over 4000 photos and would cost me a fair bit to get them all printed too

ripper24 · 5 Dec 2011 at 12:44

I have done some research on this matter (because i was bored one day!) and the common theory is around 5.6 years if they are not hermetically sealed. it they are, then 6.2.

kierenharrold · 5 Dec 2011 at 12:49

Cheap dvds can start to corrode which stops the laser bouncing light off them. But a dvd maybe 10+ years. its hard to tell because most people have only had dvds for a short period of time 5-10 years.

Have you considered cloud storage? dropbox, carbonite, amazon s3?

I would burn them to dvds/blu-rays + stick them in the cloud as well.

then try and remember to access the photos every 1 or so years just to check they are fine. If the disks start getting scratched just burn some new ones.

Just don't store them in sun light or near are condensation hotspots and they should be fine.

Lemin · 5 Dec 2011 at 16:00

25 gig storage for free with Windows Live SkyDrive

http://explore.live.com/skydrive

Moeks · 5 Dec 2011 at 17:33

Well I have heard claims that a high quality optical disk, stored in a cool, dry place could easiy remain readable for upwards of 100 years ...so in reality good quality disks stored correctly should last as long as we have optical drives to read them with ...which wont be anywhere near 100 years I'm sure. For 4000 photos I would say USB flash drive is the way to go, you can buy them upto a fair old size now. Also I would keep at least one copy on a hard drive.