2TB SD Cards

[Mark Keefer]

I came across an article on new large capacity SD cards claiming to be as fast as hard drives with lifetime warranties.

Link
That is a lot of space. I am wondering how my cameras and computer will handle them. This could be a game changer in archiving my images for back up. No need for paying for cloud storage. And imagine using these in a Raid drive set up.

 

[Cascadilla]

This is an interesting idea, but hasn't flash memory like camera SD cards had issues with long term deterioration? For me, 2 Tb isn't enough for the long term storage that I need. I have purchased a couple of 10 Tb drives for redudant long term storage in the past year, migrating from older 4 Tb drives after 4-5 years and before they fail.

 

[Mark Keefer]

You have a point, I have had 1 SD failure with a black Friday SD card years ago. These are warrantied for life, but little consolation when you lose years of work. I saw WD have 4tb versions... I have large tubs full of USB hard drives going back over decades. I have lost a few of those to. The SD cards are pricey still. But they take up less room. I am sure there will be bigger better storage mediums come, spoon fed to us in small increments of advancement to take our money. Lol. I saw an article on a Quartz crystal storage medium that could last thousands of years...don't know if I will see one. I remember when CDs and DVDs were a solution. Not as durable as I wish they were to be.

 

[Cascadilla]

You're right that CDs and DVDs have proved to be less than totally permanent. The bigger issue if we're talking about being able to retrieve files in 50-100 years will be hardware the can connect (with the necessary software) to obsolete media. Good luck today with zip drives or floppy discs or even CDs at this point since the drives that used to be in every desktop computer have been banished by designers obsessed with thin boxes. So the storage medium could be in perfect playable condition but with no way to easily access the data. I've been through using CDs, DVDs and M disc blu ray discs for back up and have now decided that redundant hard drives that I replace periodically with newer, bigger ones are the way to go. So far, I have been able to keep everything that way and have been able to retrieve anything that I have needed to. And I still have the CDs and blu ray discs and operating drives to play them back for my older files.

 

[Mark Keefer]

Yes the zip drive and click of death, and media that no hardware is available to play. Home movies on video tape. I have Hi8 and Digital video tape, Beta and VHS. Big tubs of tapes. Hundreds of hours of work to get these converted to files when if I ever get times wouldn't it be nice to just have these all converted to a media that will hold up, not degrade over time...

 

[Cascadilla]

M discs are supposed to be safe for 1000 years--they were developed for the US Defense Department. The question really is whether or not those discs will be playable on anything 500 or 1000 years from now. I'm not optimistic that anything that isn't directly visible to an unaided eye (books or prints) will still be viewable 100 years from now, let alone 1000 years. It will probably be possible if you can throw lots of money at the problem, but for the average person not so much.