Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!ccicpg!cci632!rit!tropix!moscom!ur-valhalla!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!rochester!rutgers!apple!oliveb!ames!hc!lll-winken!lll-lcc!rzh
From: rzh@lll-lcc.UUCP (Roger Hanscom)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: 5.25" Diskettes for Storage
Message-ID: <2515@lll-lcc.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jul 89 20:54:00 GMT
Organization: Lawrence Livermore Labs, LCC, Livermore Ca
Lines: 28


  Just recently, I discovered that about twenty 5.25" floppies
written some 6-7 years ago are completely munged.  The content
of the diskettes was no *major* loss, but it is particularly
distressing to me to find that the life span of magnetic media
is so short.  What are folks doing to preserve electronically
readable data?  Is there a more permanent solution?  Do WORM
compact disks offer more permanence??   
  I've got quite a collection of software and data on 5.25",
360k diskettes.  Much of the software is in .arc or .zoo format.
It doesn't take much to make a .arc file unusable.  Is it better
to unpack them, even though they'll occupy more space??  It seems
to me that back-up copies are of little use to prevent the sort
of thing I'm talking about here, unless one copies his/her
entire disk library (mine is ~200-300 diskettes) every three
or four years and puts the fresh copy away.  We're talking
*major* time and expense here!
  Is there a preferred method of storage that will extend the
life of a diskette -- that is practical?? (I'm not about to
install an air-conditioned vault in the house!)  Will packing
diskettes side-by-side, ~15 per box (similar to the way they
are packaged new) affect them adversely, or should they have
something in between (besides the sleeve)??
  Any comments will be greatly appreciated.

        roger         rzh%freedom.llnl.gov@lll-lcc.llnl.gov
                      {uunet,ames,ucbvax,..}!lll-lcc!freedom!rzh
    Upstairs, Over a Vacant Lot, Inc.