How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years) (programming.dev)

submitted 6 months ago by anzo@programming.dev to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.eco.br/post/4492477

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

How to store digital files for posterity? (hundreds of years)

I have some family videos and audios and I want to physically save them for posterity so that it lasts for periods like 200 years and more. This allows great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren to have access.

From the research I did, I found that the longest-lasting way to physically store digital content is through CD-R gold discs, but it may only last 100 years. From what I researched, the average lifespan of HDs and SSDs is no more than 10 years.

I came to the conclusion that the only way to ensure that the files really pass from generation to generation is to record them on CDs and distribute them to the family, asking them to make copies from time to time.

It's crazy to think that if there were suddenly a mass extinction of the human species, intelligent beings arriving on Earth in 1000 years would probably not be able to access our digital content. While cave paintings would probably remain in the same place.

What is your opinion?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 months ago

Print the hexdump of the file or qr code of the hexdump on paper. I store backups of my password manager db like this just in case there is a solar flare or some other magic bullshit that wipes all my pendrives/sd cards/CDs.

[-] antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 months ago

Or you could encode the hexdump to audio and press it into vinyl. But in this case, as well as the QR, i think, you'll have to keep some physical backup (that isn't encoded) of the decoding algorithms for QR or the audio, otherwise you just have some funky pixelart/bleepbloop sounds to enjoy but no data - if every other copy is gone... Well, you could spend the rest of your life trying to calculate it then?!