Long time data storage

I’m making a time capsule but I’m not burying paper. I’m using some sort of data storage system and its gotta last longer than a USB. Any ideas?

Bump

Technically a simple HDD will last longer, but even a HDD if not powered for a long enough time will lose data.

You could go make periodical copies as a backup. As in clone the whole drive to a empty drive every few months. The empty drive for this can be the same one you used to make the previous copy.

But honestly I would look into uploading it as a (possibly preferably encrypted) data file on your gmail account or something. As long you dont login it would just sit there, but it wont be lost due to the data centers algorithms that "refresh" your data to prevent it being damaged being unused. The only limit here would be the actual max storage space.

Tapes are the best for storing data for decades. Billion dollar companies still always backup their data with them because they don't break down.

Other than that, your best bet would be cloud storage as xeretrax mentioned. Google only gives you 15GB per account for free but you can pay for more, or just make a few extra accounts. I have about 5 that are for nothing but storage.

How do i access the data on tape drives tho

With the same device you use to record the data. They're called tape drives.

What? But aren’t tape drives the little box with the two rods that the tape is rolled on?

No, those are just tapes. The device they go into is the tape drive.
The tapes are often called tape drive for no reason at all.

Its like a dvd drive.
You dont call a actual dvd with a movie on it or whatever a dvd drive.

Xeretrax is right ^^^

You'll want a BD-R drive. Yup. Just a regular ol blu ray writing drive. And the BD media. Now this is where its special. You'll want HTL. "High to low". This is important for longevity. Make sure your blu ray drive can handle htl (most do I think, but be good to check)

They are like dvds. But last almost 200 years maybe more.

Use cloud storage, bro something like that google could storage or one dirve or media fire.

I second vote for BDR. 50gb a disk with dual layer version, hardy, and hardly likely to lose data from solar radiation or anything relating to data loss from magnetic decomposure. Not six feet deep anyway. Get an electronic proof bag to put inside your container and you should be good for the next 1000 years.

Big advantage with blu rays is it costs only £20 gbp for 10x disks. When you think how long that data will last, it is a great investment.

tapes are perfect for this, but you run the risk of them not being able to be played when the time comes to pop it open.

the tapes are different to the ones you're thinking of

the tapes

To quote the important part from wiki:

LTO tape is designed for 15 to 30 years of archival storage.Depending on the generation of LTO technology, a single LTO tape should be able to sustain approximately 200-364 full file passes.
There is a large amount of lifespan variability in actual use. One full file pass is equal to writing enough data to fill an entire tape and takes between 44 and 136 end-to-end passes. Regularly writing only 50% capacity of the tape results in half as many end-to-end tape passes for each scheduled backup, and thereby doubles the tape lifespan. LTO uses an automatic verify-after-write technology to immediately check the data as it is being written, but some backup systems explicitly perform a completely separate tape reading operation to verify the tape was written correctly. This separate verify operation doubles the number of end-to-end passes for each scheduled backup, and reduces the tape life by half.

• Another vote for physical media. but this time for cd-r. you want it to be easy to read. nearly all optical drives will be able to read cd-r more than blu ray or dvd. This is if size is not an issue.
• Why not create a gmail account and carve the login details onto a stone and include that in the capsule. that way the cashe can be added to over the next few years.
• Embed the data into an otherwise harmless virus which will propagate across the internet without the users knowledge.
• Embed the data into a meme format which people will voluntarily propagate

The last two would work by having so many copies of the data that it stands the best change of surviving the total collapse of civilisation,

So, what did you decide?

I think you should have specified the time frame you hope to have it last, and the amount of data you hope to store.

Anything with metal in it might corrode and become unusable.

I think most of the suggested media are at significant risk of being unplayable in the future because no player will be available. So I think the player should be included in the time capsule. Any player will have fragile metals which would be challenging to store long term.

I think any choice you can imagine is likely to be obsolete faster than you expect. Even if you choose a media form that is playable, the filetype might not be compatible with whatever people have available. I don't know what I'd do with a cassette tape program from my Vic-20.

Even 50 years is problematic with physical media. Most media types are already obsolete. https://obsoletemedia.org/data/

Look at the oldest surviving data on earth. Most of it is carved in stone. Gold or lead are pretty good also. Maybe buy roofing slate and etch characters in it? Very old graves sometimes have lead plates with the deceased names stamped/carved in them. Lead is cheap and stable. Stone is cheap and stable. You could buy lead sheeting from a building supply and use a cnc machine to etch information in it.

If you want to store stuff for centuries then im afraid paper probably is the best way to do it ie in book form ..

Cds, Dvds etc are probably oboslete now arent they.? But there are still plenty of cd/dvd players being made, but how long is that going to last? I doubt they will be making cd/dvd players 100 years from now, i think its highly probable they will be a thing of the past within 20 years, or less.

Overtime old dvd/cd players will break and be unfixable and how long does stuff stay intact on cds/dvds anyway? even in the perfect storage conditions?

No doubt 100 years from now many cds and dvds will still have their data intact. but how many players will there be intact?

Long term storage without paper probably needs a new technology im afraid.

Why not get a virtual private server somewhere like DigitalOcean or Linode (am I allowed to mention vendors? Lol). Create an FTP server, use an FTP client to save stuff in there, when it's done, shut off the server.

Just keep it shut down to avoid getting hacked.

Iirc it's like 5 dollars per month at the most basic rate.

You ever want to open your time capsule again, just turn it on, use your favorite FTP client, ta-da. Load image: grin

At that point you might as well rent a cheaper FTP server and upload your files in a .rar with recovery record.

Now I am curious to know what the original OP finally chose.