Fear of digital amnesia.

Music is digital, digital communication is likely to soon Wabern books only as bits and bytes through the data. But the cultural treasures to survive millennia - and what archaeologists are still dereinst find us?

 

An archaeologist, in the year 2525 excavates remains of our civilization, is mightily surprised. "How can it be," he will ask, "that from a culture that as soon as technically well developed, so little is left?" Because so much is certain: When the digitization of the media to the extent proceeds as before, it is hardly legible find the remnants of what our society has created.

It had so much humanity to inherit. IDG One study estimates that the digital data is a mountain in 2010 to nearly 1000 billion gigabytes grow. That would be about twenty times until today in a book published data. The lion's share of it from private data, especially digital photos and videos. Also books, if all goes according to plans of the e-book manufacturers, not for long as tangible physical media and survive in future as bits and bytes through networks Wabern and readers.

But how long are actually digital data preserved?

About this issue
ruminate archivists, curators and librarians for many years. What comes in the digital age, according to the paper? Which medium is the wood product as a reliable long-term data storage inherit?

Pattern book

While books are not well preserved forever, according to current knowledge, but more than digital data. And even better, the older they are. So papyrus writings from antiquity still readable.

Even during printing, the book advances the durability of the product negatively. Since the mid-19th Century, wood as a raw material for paper production. Such paper übersäuert rapidly, is brittle, dry and sensitive, finally breaks down or threatens pest eaten them.

Digital storage media appear to have immune from such attacks. As long as they are not excessive harmful influences suspends, keep it forever - or?

For the purely physical characteristics like the vote, at least within the limits of human standards. The metals and plastics, from which modern disks are built, decompose very slowly, likely to survive for centuries.

The stored data points are not.

Disks need too much care

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For the long-term archiving as the least capable hard drives are usually viewed. These disks are designed for continuous operation designed to be especially fast. You know the manufacturer. The guarantees given typically feature three to five years. Anyone who stores the equipment for longer, they should at least regularly in operation. Otherwise, experts warn, could, for example, after a few years the grease in the bearings of the drive motor to harden and make the disk unusable.

In addition, hard disks regularly test programs to be reviewed. The greatest enemy of magnetic storage like hard disks are magnetic fields that alter the storage layer and at worst useless. That is why hard drives need before such items are stored. So much effort for a data archive.

Even optical media can forget

Also because they are much easier to handle and store, are so happy to CD-ROMs and DVDs as long-term disk is used. First, because it only once writable versions, subsequent manipulation of their contents is not possible. On the other hand, however, because they have a reputation to have their content better over long periods of time to save as magnetic storage media.

That's true but only partially. Thus the reported
German Music Archive, 2007, at least 200 music CDs from the years 1983 to 1986, decomposition found to have symptoms. Apparently these are the imprints of the CDs to blame for the mishap. They eat their way slowly through the plastic layers of the disc, impair its legibility. Even under ideal storage conditions could slow the decomposition process of CDs not be stopped, then said the head of the archive.

According to Sony, such ideal storage conditions at an ambient temperature of 25 degrees and less than 50 percent humidity. Furthermore, the disks from the sun, gases, acids and solvents to be protected. Those who hold to these guidelines, should be at Sony blanks variant Silver with 35 years of shelf life to be rewarded. The archiving systems GmbH specialized disc goes from 50 years, the modern Blu-ray Disc will hold out. At least.