ebh@argon.UUCP (Ed Horch) (11/12/88)
In article <1803@garth.UUCP> fenwick@garth.UUCP (Stephen Fenwick) writes: >One of my primary tools is a 14th Ed., 1929 Encyclopaedia Britannica. >If it is true that the life of a CD-ROM is less than 50 years, I would >now be seeing data loss. This is unacceptable. Well, you've got two alternatives. Either the technology will have advanced, and you can copy the data onto whatever the latest nifty storage media is (terabit EPROMS? :-), or technology will have stag- nated, and you'll have to settle for copying it onto another CD-ROM. Suppose the life of a CD-ROM is only ten years - recopying your data every *nine* years doesn't exactly sound like a full-time job. Haven't you ever copied archival data from an old floppy or tape to a fresh one? On the other hand, what are you going to do with your Britannica when the pages get too brittle to turn, and you're forced to put the books in climate controlled storage to keep them from decaying further? BTW, what's the life expectancy of microfilm and microfiche? -Ed This has strayed from anything NeXT-specific, so I've redirected followups to comp.periphs.