[nylug-talk] CD-R as archival media

[Michael B. Levy]

He's not being paranoid.  I bought a pack of Memorex
color cds (they were cheap, and I didn't know better)
and I had all sorts of problems accessing the
information that I had burned to them.  I would open
the disk in Konqueror or Nautilus and I would
experience something that I can only call:

PHANTOM FILE SYNDROME (tm)

There would be an icon for a file, but the file
couldn't be accessed.  In the case of Nautilus, as
soon as I would click on the icon, the icon itself
would disappear.

Mike

--- Steven Kreuzer <skreuzer at mac.com> wrote:
> To be honest, I think you are being a little
> paranoid. CD-R's have a 
> lifespan of about 10 years. From a cost standpoint,
> CD-R's are going to 
> be the cheapest. Burn the data you want to archive,
> put it in a jewel 
> case and store it somewhere at room temp and you
> should be fine. If you 
> are really paranoid, simply make 2 copies of the
> data, just in case you 
> accidently run over one of the discs with your chair
> (this happened to 
> me, don't laugh).
> 
> -Steve
> 
> On Friday, May 2, 2003, at 12:31 PM, David Panofsky
> wrote:
> 
> > Ok, so I have some data which I don't need
> frequent or quick access 
> > to, but
> > which I'll almost certainly need to use in the
> future.  I want to 
> > archive it
> > so I can free up some space on my system.  I've
> been planning on just 
> > burning
> > the files to a couple of CD-Rs, but I'm concerned
> about the 
> > possibility of
> > data loss due to media degradation.  I'm looking
> for an efficient 
> > method to
> > minimize my risks, and I don't really care if the
> data is stored in a 
> > standard
> > or user friendly way.  Note, I'm looking for
> technological advice, not
> > information about off-site or fire-proof storage,
> etc.
> >
> > First off, I'm wondering if any of you have an
> opinion of how likely I 
> > am to
> > have any problems down the line.  I know that the
> red-book format has 
> > some ECC
> > built in which helps with small scratches, but I'm
> sure we've all 
> > experienced
> > cases where that is not enough protection. I have
> the sense that CD-Rs 
> > are
> > pretty likely to develop significant errors, but
> if I'm being overly 
> > paranoid,
> > just let me know....
> >
> > The simplest thing is probably to make multiple
> copies of each disk on 
> > the
> > assumption that no two will fail in exactly the
> same way. This can get
> > cumbersome with a lot of data, but I'll do it if
> nothing better comes 
> > up.  I
> > was also thinking I could use an old, small (by
> today's standards) HD 
> > to hold
> > one data copy and CD-Rs for other copies on the
> assumption that only 
> > one of
> > the two media types is likely to fail in a given
> storage environment.
> >
> > Here are some ideas I've been having which use
> some sort of Forward 
> > Error
> > Correction scheme to add redundancy to the data
> set, but none is ideal:
> >
> > 1) For each 700MB CD-R, make an (X) MB ISO file
> and use something like 
> > RAS
> > (http://www.cleaton.net/ras) to create a (700-X)
> MB file which could 
> > be used
> > to recreate the original ISO assuming errors are
> somewhat limited.  
> > Both files
> > would be burnt onto the CD as separate sessions.
> >
> > 2) Same as above, but run algorithm on tgz file
> and make ISO out of 
> > tgz, the
> > generated redundancy information, and the
> software/instructions for 
> > recovery.
> >
> > 3) Use same method with the complete set of
> standard ISO images to 
> > create a
> > single "redundancy CD" which could be used to
> recreate any damaged CD 
> > image
> > from the rest of the set.  The RAS software was
> actually written for 
> > this
> > purpose, but using floppies. This method would be
> a pain because of 
> > the large
> > temporary storage spaces involved to create/use
> the redundancy 
> > information,
> > but unlike the other options would survive a TOC
> failure of one of the 
> > disks.
> >
> > 4) Make a tar file of the data and then use rar 
> > (http://www.rarlab.com) to
> > compress, split, and add redundancy to the file. 
> Each segment then 
> > goes on a
> > CD.  My main concern here is that while rar is a
> cool archive format 
> > for
> > including redundancy options, it is not free
> software.
> >
> > Anyway, I've already wasted enough of your time,
> but would love any 
> > advice
> > regarding this matter which you might have.
> Possibly there is already 
> > software
> > to do this sort of thing, or maybe a filesystem /
> archive format which 
> > has
> > error correction which I could burn onto the CDs.
> >
> >   Thanks in advance,
> >   dave p.
> >
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