When it comes to long term archival of digital data there are two major problems: data
format and media readability.
Data formats change with time and new software loses the ability to read old formats. This
means the Wordperfect file of the 80s isn't readable today on modern software. The only
solution here is to choose the archival format carefully to be a common published standard,
such as JPEG or ASCII.
Media readability has two factors: compatibility and degradation. Does your current computer
still have a floppy drive? Could you still connect a floppy drive if you knew where to find
one? As time passes the readers for media become obsolete and fade out of common usage. If
the archived data is stored on a media which can no longer be connected then it is no longer
readable.
Media degradation is also a problem. With the passing of time most digital media become more
difficult to read in the same way that photographs become more difficult to view due to
fading. Floppy disks and hard drives demagnetize, burned CDs and DVDs rot and oxidize, flash
simply forgets. You can't read data which is no longer there.
As a solution to this I propose a box made up of PROMs. The current state of the art in
PROMs are not dense enough for this use, but I believe the density could be increased
significantly. These high density PROMs would be put into a form factor similar to large
external hard drives. For commercial use the drive should be equipped with a USB connection.
However, every drive should also have an internal interface which is quite simple for use in
reverse engineering should USB become uncommon.
Throw a reasonable filesystem on there, perhaps with some additional hardware overwrite
protection and you would have an excellent archival solution suitable for several decades of
archiving. If the correct materials are chosen perhaps this media could be usable for more
than a century.
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