Linux

47952 readers

1664 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

How to save data for archive purposes? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

62 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi,

I’m not sure if this is the right community for my question, but as my daily driver is Linux, it feels somewhat relevant.

I have a lot of data on my backup drives, and recently added 50GB to my already 300GB of storage (I can already hear the comments about how low/high/boring that is). It's mostly family pictures, videos, and documents since 2004, much of which has already been compressed using self-made bash scripts (so it’s Linux-related ^^).

I have a lot of data that I don’t need regular access to and won’t be changing anymore. I'm looking for a way to archive it securely, separate from my backup but still safe.

My initial thought was to burn it onto DVDs, but that's quite outdated and DVDs don't hold much data. Blu-ray discs can store more, but I'm unsure about their longevity. Is there a better option? I'm looking for something immutable, safe, easy to use, and that will stand the test of time.

I read about data crystals, but they seem to be still in the research phase and not available for consumers. What about using old hard drives? Don’t they need to be powered on every few months/years to maintain the magnetic charges?

What do you think? How do you archive data that won’t change and doesn’t need to be very accessible?

Cheers

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wow, that was a rabbit hole of information, links and ideas. Thanks a lot. I reached a point of what I would call "satisfaction" https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/selecting-storage-media.pdf was back linked by Nestor and it seems to give me an idea of what I'll do next. Thanks again 👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Good to hear! When you go with the National Archives UK, you can't fail. They have some very, VERY competent people in staff over there, who are also quite active in the DigiPres community. They are also the inventors of DROID and the maintainers of the widely used PRONOM database of file formats. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PRONOM/Default.aspx Absolute heroes of Digital Preservation.