I thought this had been discussed recently but can't find any threads. So my question - how reliable are USB sticks or compact flash cards for long term storage? I have had Cds corrupt after a few years and as this is for Finale music files they really are too valuable to risk.

I have found Zip drives very reliable, is it still worth backing up on these? At present all my scores and parts are about 60Mb.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

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No longer a forum member.

http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/605259/micron-demos-ultra-fast-1gbsec-ssd.h tml

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field- keywords=compact+flash+to+ide&x=0&y=0

I had exactly the same thoughts recently.

This link will give you some food for thought.

As will this .

I think there is yet to be a media invented that we can rely on for long term storage. For audio purposes, and maybe even video, conventional magnetic tape still holds the crown in terms of proven archival quality, but thats maybe just because it's been around the longest. For a while yet, we are going to be shuffling our backup-files to different media as technology 'progresses'.

The thing that goes against flash as archival storage for me is the instant failure scenario, as one gets no warning of impending failure as described in the first link above. That said, an archived USB stick does not need to be spun up regularly like a drive, and all the talk of failure hinges around limited read/write cycles, although these are in the millions now.

If you were to just write a couple of times and then store, in principle, your data should outlive you, but would you be willing to take the risk to find out on the day you need to access your data that there is nothing there?

I agree that any digital medium cannot be held 100% reliable, though really USB sticks and hard drives really aren't that bad. To my mind the only real safety is to have more than one copy of anything important, ideally with one of those copies held off site. I use three USB external hard drives, since currently my backups run to about 50Gb, one of which spends most of its time at the office.

Chris

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Put the fun back into dysfunctional.
Mr Punch's Studio

Definitely don't rely on USB sticks or CF or any other kind of solid-state memory devices.

I'd recommend using DVD+/-RW (or CDRW) discs, plus copies on hard drives elsewhere.

Check them regularly (say every year) and copy the data to new formats as and when.

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

As above. I would add that generating some checksums before transfer will help identify any failed or corrupt files post transfer.

ken

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I'm All Ears.

Thanks for all your replies, I am going to read the articles in depth.
Just one question though; Hugh you said CDRWs, are these more secure than ordinary CDRs?

Quote Ken Long:

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As above. I would add that generating some checksums before transfer will help identify any failed or corrupt files post transfer.

ken

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Regrettably I have to admit I need to learn to do checksums but the data is so important I think I will burn CDRWs every month if I have prepared a lot of music scores.

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No longer a forum member.

The future is the cloud!

Whatever that is.

Seriously though, I'm talking online storage. With the kind of connections we are unfortunately unlikely to get in the near future due to BT's serious lack of interest in investing in more optic fiber, the idea of backing stuff up to remote servers in a nuclear bunker which themselves are backed up in triplicate every 30 seconds is quite appealing. As long as they don't pass any laws allowing the authorities to snoop through any of it that is. "If you're doing nothing wrong you've got nothing to worry about" - fine then, I want a webcam in the Prime Minister's bathroom.

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http://www.jeremycorbett.co.uk

Hi Ian

I've plugged in USB flash drives, smelt smoke had that sinking feeling, USB port fried my drive.

As Hoobs mentions, online storage (on more than one site), also SSD drives with decent mtbf ... claimed 200+ years !!!
Hopefully the interface needed to acces these SSD drives will be around for a while.

I like usb sticks!

Never had a problem with them and they are so cheap now, especially in bulk that you could afford to make multiple copies. Also usb ports seem to be a fixture on pc's so the playback technology seems unlikely to dissapear any time soon.
But I agree with the general premise, do it often and everywhere you can!

Dave.

Encrypt the files and mail them to yourself using GMail. Currently you can have about 7 Gb per account. Not to be used as the only means of storage but as an additional safety measure.

If your place burns down you have access to your files from anywhere in the world.

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TritonExtrMOSS/EX800, NordRack2, ATC1, D550/XV5080/MKS70/MKS7/MKS50/MKS80/S550/JP8080/Ju60/JD990, Blofeld, Mopho, TG77/An1X, ESQM, Emax, Esynth, AkaiS5k/MPC1k, Indigo2, Rogue, Machinedrum, ProOne

Quote:

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Regrettably I have to admit I need to learn to do checksums but the data is so important I think I will burn CDRWs every month if I have prepared a lot of music scores.

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If storing on optical media, you needn't worry about generating checksums provided you verify your disc for errors. Although, depending on the type of process, this may or may not verify the contents against the source.

ken

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I'm All Ears.

Maybe it was me but I found CD RW very prone to damage to the extent that is was much easier to buy a rake of CD R and frisbee the cockups!

Dave.