Storage medium for longevity of data

I seem to remember this thread awhile back. If you search the National Bureau of Standards site there is a reference to etching data onto iridium blanks. The Mormon Church is also interesting in retaining records for > 1000 years. Also look up references to optical tape. Other references include: http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/cap99/jvarney/preserve.htm Preservation of Digital Data http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/meetings/npo95rh.html The digital storage media examined are magnetic tapes and optical disks (including magneto-optical disks). For each medium the claims of manufacturers about their longevity, results of accelerated aging tests, and observations from field sites are presented. Recent research, including that presented by Jeff Rothenberg and by the National Media Laboratory, St. Paul, Minnesota, is noted. The paper concludes that there are at present too many unknowns to commit digital data to currently-available artifacts for anything other than short-term storage. The preferred option is to direct preservation efforts towards solutions which preserve the information content - the digital 'object' - rather than the digital 'artifact'. http://www.uky.edu/~kiernan/DL/hedstrom.html Digital preservation: a time bomb for Digital Libraries Mike mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu