[BC] Digital Archiving

[Andrew Skotdal]

I have a mountain of data that is taking up server space that I may never need again, or it may become mission critical in 15 years.  I've been told that DVD-ROMs degrade after about 7 years.  So, here are my questions, assuming that maintaining the data on live servers is not a realistic solution (and assume that whatever you suggest, I would duplicate two or three times to insure against any single backup becoming corrupted)...

1.  What digital media would you select to off load your data for later use?

2.  If your digital media selection is some kind of external hard drive, should you worry that the connectors won't work with some future generation of PCs?

3.  What is the ideal storage temperature assuming that it won't be moved until it's actually needed?  Would you vacuum seal an external hard drive and freeze it?

4.  Should we hire a temp to print and organize hard copies instead and store those?  Obviously, that creates a space issue, but it's important information.