Re: archival media, be very careful if you're considering DVDs.
Self-recorded DVDs can have a usable life of as little as 2 years
depending on the make. There are archival discs available that claim
very long lifespans (Taiyo Yuden discs are frequently mentioned) but
these are necessarily predictions. If you do choose to achive on DVD
you should be sure to use the DVD+R format, not DVD-R, as it is more
reliable.
You should be cautious with hard drives as well: for a reliable archive
you shouldn't assume that hard drives have a lifespan of more that 5
years. You may be surprised to know that when all's said and done the
medium with the longest lifespan is still tape. If you have a lot of
material to archive you might want to check out the LTO-5 tape spec.
steve
--
Steve Hull, Technical Support Officer, Moving Images
*JISC Digital Media - A JISC Advance Service*
/Still images, moving images and sound advice/
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Online advice documents: www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk
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<http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/training>
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