Floppies are not susceptible to magnetic deteriorization only. The adhesive that holds the little metallic hub on the floppy is many times the weak point. The adhesive can bleed aver the data area, or more commonly just give up and slip or let go. This makes the floppy useless. The universal "pop it in and read it" machine is not terribly practical. In addition to the protocol of the data files on a piece of digital media there are embedded marks on the disks that are proprietary and change sometimes even between versions of the same drive. These marks and the timing associated with them are hard coded into each drive's control system. The information about these marks will also go away. Yes, there are some color photographic processes that are more permanent, but none as good as properly treated black and white. These include Cibachrome and Polaroid instant prints. The words I have heard on Ektachrome are that it lasts longer the more your project it. Still, these media do not work as well as B&W. The best method is IMHO a hard copy from a good source. Ink jet printers are (usually) not even waterproof. My GUESS is that an acid free paper in a xerographic (laser) printer would be the best. It would be interesting to see the numbers on toner and paper. Brent --- Chuck Hards <chuckhards@yahoo.com> wrote:
That's what we get for putting bureaucrats in charge of the repositories, instead of Library Science specialists, and trained archivists.
EVERYTHING we do these days as a society is based on "cost effectiveness" and short-term savings. What we lose is ultimately much more valuable than the expenses "saved".
If we don't preserve our history and learn from it, we are bound to repeat past mistakes over and over again.
C.
--- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
Some of the world's biggest repositories of bound newspaper volumes have been dumping theirs in favor of microfilm because it takes up less storage space. Microfilm not only deteriorates much faster than old cloth-based paper, but it also can't record details as well.
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