17 Jan
2023
17 Jan
'23
4:27 p.m.
On Jan 17, 2023, at 10:58 AM, Kenneth Gober via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
...
There is another significant advantage to focusing on a backup strategy as
opposed to an archival strategy -- I don't need to worry about tapes I made
today being readable decades in the future (i.e. I don't need to worry
about keeping legacy tape drives running). The file server is the
"archive" and I only *need* to be able to read the tapes I made last year
or last month. If a tape drive fails I can just get another one, and if
they become hard to get there's nothing stopping me from upgrading to
something newer with better availability (i.e. I don't have a library of
old media that I need to be able to read forever). The disadvantage of
course is that a file server isn't something you can reasonably put in
storage for future generations to access. This strategy really only works
if the file server is accessed frequently so that
accessibility/compatibility issues can be fixed incrementally as they
happen (while they are still easily addressed using current/recent
technology).
-ken
Nice idea and a very good point. You have to deal with a number of compatibility issues
but they are all short range. The backups is one aspect. Another is the file server
protocol. If your server uses NFS V2, some hosts can use it but others may not. And the
hardware on which it runs might fail. For these last two cases you'd have to stand up
a newer file server, and in the case of server failure you'd have to be able to load
the new server with the old data. Depending on the backup media that might be
problematic. I suppose for both of those issues the answer is to bring up newer file
servers ahead of time, as they become available.
You still have to deal with the question of how old format documents would be read. If
the formats are proprietary and no longer supported that's a problem. For example, I
have some old Eagle CAD files that are no longer readable. And some old CorelDraw files
that are also difficult, though I think I can still get there via intermediate old
versions of the software on a VM. And I have an old CPLD designed in Abel HDL; if that
ever needs modification I'm going to be in trouble.
paul