[rollei_list] Re: OT: Film vs Digital to preserve archives

  • From: "Jeff Kelley" <thocker@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2006 10:57:04 -0700

Peter, I agree with what you write.

I worked as an Engineer with Sony for several years. I was dealling with CDROM hardware and software when it first appeared. A blank CD cost about $30 then. That's $30 EACH!

CDROM is no different than hard drive technology as far as how fragile it is. I've had several failures of GOLD CDROMs over the years. These were state-of-the-art-quality gold blanks, stored in cases, in the dark, at normal room temperatures and humidity.

These were verified byte by byte as good when written and stored, but when pulled out of storage approximately 5 years later were unreadable. It was random and occasional but scared me enough to never trust priceless stuff to any digital backup method unless making two or three redundant copies. I've had my share of hard drive failures as well....

I've actually reverted to film for much of my photography after going digital a few years back. I was down to one 35mm film camera last year but now have 2 medium format systems, one being my Rolleiflex MX-EVS, and 3 35mm film cameras.

Our grandchildren won't be seeing many photos of their grandparents in 30 years if those photos are being stored digitally.

I can't read an 8 inch floppy disk, or play a spool of wire recorded on a wire-recorder. In 30 years, my grandkids will no doubt look at my DVD R+ disc and wonder what in the world it might be.

-Jeff-








My first wife helped develop the IBM Displaywriter, with its 2 8-inch
floppies, the "toaster" -- ever even SEEN an 8-inch floppy?  And I'm not
that ancient.

Pick up an 8 year old 3.5 floppy.  Odds are it will be DS, and you can't
rven read it.  Unless you regularly transfer data, hard drive to hard
drive, digital data is FAR MORE FRAGILE than the human memory.  At least
it takes 75+ years for a human to become obsolete...

Its all just a way for manufacturers to shove you the latest trendy &^%$.
 "Practical?"  who you kiddin?  Whatever can be portrayed as fashionable
to the rich and clueless...

PJ Nebergall

On Wed, 19 Jul 2006 08:00:46 -0700 "Jeff Kelley" <thocker@xxxxxxxxxxx>
writes:
> Carlos, museums and similar organizations have struggled with this
> issue of
> digital archiving for decades.  It is not easily solved.
>
> I think it telling that I can still easily view and print my
> great-grandfather's film negatives but can no longer access 5.25
> inch
> computer floppy diskettes that I, myself, produced not that many
> years
> ago....
>
> -Jeff-
>
>
> >The RUG Digistar archives loss due to a disk crack
> >recalled me the issue about to image and data in
> >general preservation; I found an official site about
> >the issue containing an expert conference on the
> >topic, some of my very general conclusions reading the
> >article are that film and microfilm are still the best
> >and cheapest way to archive images and documents,
> >however the fact digital technology is producing
> >valuable documents requires to establish systems to
> >preserve these documents and they are very expensive
> >in part because they demand an upgrading for short
> >periods:
> >
>
>http://www.archives.gov/preservation/conferences/papers-2003/puglia.html
> >
> >All the best
> >Carlos
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >__________________________________________________
> >Preguntá. Respondé. Descubrí.
> >Todo lo que querías saber, y lo que ni imaginabas,
> >está en Yahoo! Respuestas (Beta).
> >¡Probalo ya!
> >http://www.yahoo.com.ar/respuestas
> >
> >---
> >Rollei List
> >
> >- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
> >in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
> >
> >- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> >'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into
> www.freelists.org
> >
> >- Online, searchable archives are available at
> >//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
> >
>
>
> ---
> Rollei List
>
> - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
> in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
>
> - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
> 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into
> www.freelists.org
>
> - Online, searchable archives are available at
> //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
>
>

---
Rollei List

- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list



---
Rollei List

- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org

- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list

Other related posts:

  1. Home
  2. rollei_list
  3. Archive
  4. 07-2006