In addition to Justine's excellent advice, when you are recopying
information from the old medium to the new, you should take the opportunity
to make sure that any data is still readable using current software. If it
isn't, then you will have to determine the best strategy for converting the
documents.
Another way of looking at this, is to ensure that you always determine the
need to convert all documents whenever the software platform changes -
making sure that you don't forget any tucked away on a CD somewhere.
It is no use having pristine CD-ROM containing perfect copies of Multiplan
or WordStar, or any number of old format documents, if your software cannot
read them.
John Lovejoy
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My own views, not necessarily those of my employer.
-----Original Message-----
Hi all
Another issue to bear in mind is the availability of CD readers. A CD may
last 30 years at optimum temperatures but will we all still have access to
CD readers?
Digital storage media (of whatever variety) should really be refreshed on a
reasonably regular basis (every 3 years for CDs). And the data should be
transferred to newer storage media well before the original medium becomes
obsolete. So for CDs your organisation should be monitoring trends in
storage to make sure that you are not left with a lot of CDs and no (or
only few) readers which can access them.
Regards
Justine
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