From MIKE ELLWOOD
The thrust of Robin Harbour’s article (Forum, 3 September) about the
dangers of relying only on computer data archives is surely correct.
However, I do not think he covered one danger, which is the rapid obsolescence
of data storage systems.
If you needed to read directly from disc something written on a computer
system of 25 years ago, it is most unlikely that you could do so; similarly,
from the tapes of that period.
Of course, when systems are upgraded, the data then archived can be
copied to the new system, but the prospect of this process continuing indefinitely
for all new data created is not realistic.
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The hope of keeping paper copies is not all that optimistic either.
Apart from the problems of storage, and the risk of fire and flood, unless
expensive archive-quality paper is used, the chances of it being readable
much beyond 25 years are low.
Although our generation produces a lot of ‘information’, we may not
leave as much of it for posterity as we might imagine.
Mike Ellwood Abingdon, Oxfordshire
