Audio Archiving?

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

I work for a church and I am thinking of a way to perminantly archive our church service audio (possibly video in the future). Cassettes are not good long term and neither are CDs/DVDs. What do you guys think of using a 500GB (basically two 250GB drives) Raid 1 and put an Apple Lossless file on there. With Apple Lossless I can maintain high quality yet still get 1.5 years of services on a single 250GB drive. Should last a long time and when a new technology comes around, it's easier to copy the files from the HD than rip thousands of CDs all over again.

Your thoughts?

 

[zimv20]

i also use hard drive backup, though my music stuff is backed up on at least 2 drives, one tucked away in a closet. someday i'll get yet another drive and keep it off-site.

the only reliable long-term music storage medium is vinyl. everything has tradeoffs.

 

[Maxiseller]

I agree -

With Hard Drives getting bigger and bigger still, it means that you'll be able to copy over the files with ease. This is the approach I use - although I'm not looking for a long term solution. My files are constantly updated or re-opened but need permanant backup.

The only concern I would have regarding a long term storage solution if you're not planning on using the disks is compatibility. With new standards coming out (which is also inevitable) you'd have to make sure that you were reasonably up to date which shouldn't be a problem.

 

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

With new standards coming out (which is also inevitable) you'd have to make sure that you were reasonably up to date which shouldn't be a problem.

THe reason for storing on a hard drive is because I know it will be easier to move to new media when new formats come out. For example: On a 250 GB drive, i can get 1.5 years worth of serivces. So in like 10 years, if we have cheap terabyte drives, I should be able to easily migrate more information onto fewer drives.

 

[Maxiseller]

Well, that sounds about perfect.

I was just worried that you were happily gonna put them all on a shelf or something and then come back in 10 years and think "how on earth am I going to get the data!"

 

[zimv20]

a little off-topic, but how many here think about disaster recovery when doing backups? i'm talking about such threats as:

1. home invasion
2. home fire
3. overwhelming electrical surge
4. EMP blast
5. regional act of god

anyone backing up offsite? in another part of the country? a variety of media?

 

[WinterMute]

Please remember that HD storage is considered a volatile medium that can be effected by external forces... One good EMP and your data is gone.

I back all my dead storage audio and video to optical media, mainly CD, but also now to DVD for raw video, I will often keep a 2nd copy of the material on a live drive too, but I don't expect that to last.

Professionally, the Magneto-optical drive is the way to go, but it's pricey.

Multiple redundancy is essential in backup, and zim's last post is certainly worth considering, most big projects are archived daily to 3 separate media and at least one copy is kept way off-site in secure, fire-proof storage.

If your work is irreplaceable then you must have multiple copies in multiple locations and on multiple media, even then we may get hit by a large asteroid...

The cheapest way to archive audio is the Red Book audio CD, it's robust and will last a long time, I have CD's that are over 20 years old and they still play fine.

 

[quigleybc]

the only reliable long-term music storage medium is vinyl. everything has tradeoffs.

Until they get left out in the sun, and get warped....

What are Red Book Audio CD's ?


I put everything on DVD's for back up, and burn them to duplicates.

 

[beatsme]

DAT is a good option

THe reason for storing on a hard drive is because I know it will be easier to move to new media when new formats come out. For example: On a 250 GB drive, i can get 1.5 years worth of serivces. So in like 10 years, if we have cheap terabyte drives, I should be able to easily migrate more information onto fewer drives.

you might consider some kind of tape backup--DAT DDS4 can hold 40GB compressed. If you use Retrospect (which I believe still comes bundled with a LaCie DAT drive) you can rig it to backup only new data while leaving the original data untouched. This is much easier than having to backup the entire volume every day, plus if you happen to have saved over a file accidentally, you will still have access to the earlier version.

IMHO, backing up a HD with another HD is asking for trouble. All storage media are vulnerable to heat/water/magnetic interference. The advantage of tape is that is a power surge/spike that would completely fry a HD would, while also destroying the tape drive, leave the tapes themselves undamaged. Also, DAT tapes are little hardier than HD's are...they can be dropped and rattled around (within reason) without fear of damage or data loss. I archived years of artwork at my former job, all on DAT, and never had a problem with it. I can't say as much about HD's...I've had several give up on me (good ones too...Seagate and Western Digital), for no apparent reason. If you think a dead HD is tough to explain to your preacher, try explaining it to your boss...

hope this helps...

 

[zimv20]

Until they get left out in the sun, and get warped....

hm.

i'll rephrase -- properly stored, vinyl is the only permanent music storage medium. CDs, magnetic drives and tape eventually deteriorate.