Preservation into Eternity (was: IMSAI 8080) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

23 Jun 1998

...
  So, what to use
? Writable CDs ? They have only a guaranteed 
 I suggest real CD-ROMs 
The 'real' ones can be expensive to master . . .

...
  lifetime of
less than 15 years. Tapes ? Maybe - I have some
PBS Tapes from 1976 and they are still readable, but they are
900 and 1600 BpI tapes. Any modern optical and magnetical
medium is less reliable. So printing the hex dump and then
try to scan it back (ocr) when a replacement is needed ?
This sould be reliable, since it is human readable (Like
old magnetic tapes).  
 I think paper is the best option. It shouldn't be a big deal to print a 
 hex dump for a 20-K program with a line printer.  
Just make sure it's Teflon, or Tyvek based paper (if such things 
exist), using some very high-tech ink/toner most modern papers (that 
I know of) have a finite shelf-life.   Now papryrus-- that's rugged!
S.L. = Several millenia

...
  >Or just put it again on EPROMS - with propper
handling                                          ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^
...
  EPROMS could
survive at least 50+ years - and PROMS
(real one not EPROMS without window) should live even
longer. So just copy them. And beside the information -  
 What is the problem with EPROMs? Why not just put them in styrofoam?               
                                              ^^^^^^^^^
Eeeek!  Is this guy crazy?  It would have to be stuck in 
carbon-loaded foam, and kept in a Faraday-cage container (metallized 
stat bags, or similar).

...
  That should keep IR out... 
IR would be the LEAST or your worries.  Now if you're a follower of
Erich von Dainken, :-)  you could inscribe your source in Gold 
leaves, as certain pre-pre-columbian 'civilizations' supposedly
have done.  Your assembly code will then be forever immortalized for
future generations to puzzle over.

Who knows?  It may even become an object of worship . . . .
<Tongue now removed from cheek>

Jeff 

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