OT? Ancient software archive systems (was Re: PDP CDROMS)

Media lifespan... After just 10,000 or so days on earth, I've learned not to *rely* on any media and to backup anything that is hard to replace. My kids have scratched CD's in a nanosecond, I've dropped floppies and accidentally rolled over them with the chair trying to retrieve them, whatever. I am just really bad with stuff like that, almost never seeing the natural end of the media's lifespan. So I think Zane is right, storage is just too cheap and the technology is too available not to invest a little in safeguarding as much of the software as you can. I've got around 6 gigs of "classic" computer-related data archived, with everything from applications, emulators, and schematics to scanned magazines and video files of 80's TV commercials. Considering that an 18 gig EIDE drive is under $200 and Linux (free) has built-in RAID support, you can absolutely guarantee the safety of your data for almost nothing. I also picked up a Sony 8gig tape drive for $250 a while back and keep a backup set in a drawer in my office. Ala Jessee Jackson, the nicest thing about a Linux setup is the Connectivity Flexibility, where you can transfer between almost any machines with combinations of serial connections, networking, and writing native-format disks/tapes with the gaggle of free utilities available. Heaven. As far as finding a case, combing the scrapyards for a stripped Mini or PC server chassis is a great source. A little creative cutting and metal-epoxy work and you can mate a cheap ATX case to it (for the card cage) without much hassle...and have all the room you ever dreamed of. The old AST server case I scrounged has enough room for all of the tubing/etc of my cooling system as well as an 8-slot scsi backplane with sliding drive trays! Almost free! Just my 119 Rubles, Aaron On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Zane H. Healy wrote: