What's the Best Long Term Physical Storage Device?

[Right side bob]

I'm looking to store personal and sensitive information for years/decades. Kinda like a memory box but with Videos of my Childhood for my descendants. They're also some financial and inheritance information I am looking to keep secure. The data is obviously going to be encrypted (I'm not dumb) 256 bit or higher. I don't care much about speed just how long I can retain data without it being corrupted.

 

[DelJo63]

CD-RW or DVD.

as the media is removable, it has its own physical security (unless your home is subject to periodic break-ins).

CAUTION:- The loss of either the program or the encryption key will be fatal (aka make the media useless).

 

[Evernessince]

Whelp hard drives and other forms of magnetic storage media are out of the question as their magnetic properties weaken and should be refreshed every 3 years.

The US National Archive rates CDs and DVD at 5 - 10 years.

Blu-ray discs last longer then CDs and DVDs as they use an inorganic dye and include a protective layer, unlike CDs or DVDs.

M Discs claim to last 1,000 years (although no one has been able to test that claim to it's fullest yet). They are essentially blu-rays designed specifically for archival purposes. The US Department of defense has done testing on M Discs and found that they are significantly more durable then previous optical media. M Discs are not as greatly affected by temperature and humidity as DVDs, CDs, and Bluray discs are. The only caveats with this is that they are expensive and require a Blu-ray drive that works with them. Most good blu-ray drives should be compatible.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

How long is "good enough" for you though? That'd probably be the question that decides what medium you use.

Regardless of the media, I would use the rule of 3, and probably forego encryption (a forgotten passphrase will make it all useless; memories fade). I'd also recommend using a non-proprietary format for your data so you can be sure it can be accessed in the future.

Personally, I think a cloud backup would be ideal for your purposes since it'd be least likely to be affected by obsolescence (we might not have optical media readers around forever).

 

[Evernessince]

How long is "good enough" for you though? That'd probably be the question that decides what medium you use.

Regardless of the media, I would use the rule of 3, and probably forego encryption (a forgotten passphrase will make it all useless; memories fade). I'd also recommend using a non-proprietary format for your data so you can be sure it can be accessed in the future.

Personally, I think a cloud backup would be ideal for your purposes since it'd be least likely to be affected by obsolescence (we might not have optical media readers around forever).

I do not think he would go out of his way to mention this data is personal and sensitive to just end up storing it on the cloud. The first question you have to ask is do you trust the cloud provider to keep your data secure for potentially decades? I'd say no. Mind you cloud providers haven't even been around for a decade, who says the provider you pick won't just up and disappear along with your data?

Don't think storing data on an optical disc is a problem either. VHS was invented in 1976 and you can still get players off eBay dirt cheap. Optical drives are even more common.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

I do not think he would go out of his way to mention this data is personal and sensitive to just end up storing it on the cloud. The first question you have to ask is do you trust the cloud provider to keep your data secure for potentially decades? I'd say no. Mind you cloud providers haven't even been around for a decade, who says the provider you pick won't just up and disappear along with your data?

Don't think storing data on an optical disc is a problem either. VHS was invented in 1976 and you can still get players off eBay dirt cheap. Optical drives are even more common.

Cloud storage provides the largest guarantee that the data will be accessible for the longest period of time possible, unlike most physical media.

Google Drive for Business offers unlimited storage for a fairly low price; if you’re worried about privacy, use something like rclone to encrypt the data you put on there. Also, I don’t think Google is going anywhere anytime soon.

Just my $0.02; physical media-wise, optical is really the only one that has any kind of longevity.

 

[Evernessince]

Cloud storage provides the largest guarantee that the data will be accessible for the longest period of time possible, unlike most physical media.

Google Drive for Business offers unlimited storage for a fairly low price; if you’re worried about privacy, use something like rclone to encrypt the data you put on there. Also, I don’t think Google is going anywhere anytime soon.

Just my $0.02; physical media-wise, optical is really the only one that has any kind of longevity.

I don't think Cloud storage advertises cold storage of your data for up to 1,000 years, even if they go out of business like M-Discs do. Mind you cloud storage is not cloud backup. Services like google drive do not offer all the additional perks that an online backup provider would give you. If you are going to backup your data online I would at the least suggest you go specifically to an online backup provider.

 

[GaryMove]

I prefer USB because I lost so many DVD CDR store options of damaged disks.

 

[SNGX1275]

My take is there is no real answer here. What you should do is put it on whatever you have available, and refresh that thought every few years. You can attempt to store stuff on whatever media you want, but if you can't read that media in 20 years because you can't interface with that reader anymore then it doesn't do you much good.

I've been around and burning CDs since the 2x burn rates and I still have some that will read - most of the ones that fail to read aren't because the dyes failed, but simply because I failed to take care of them (scratches). That is ~20 years. However, I never burned them expecting them to last 20 years and I don't think anyone should store something expecting that longevity. I think if something is very important, put it on something you can easily deal with now, and when it looks like that technology is losing favor, copy that stuff over to something that is current. Repeat this as often as necessary. Do it with file formats too, you don't want to be holding on to some file type that looks like its fading into obscurity without at least attempting to get it saved into something that is going to be used for a few more years.

 

[captaincranky]

CD-RW or DVD.

Just an observation that "RW" discs aren't in any way shape or form, stable. My experience is that they fail frequently, after being overwritten perhaps only a couple of times.

Also that DVD-Video files written to DVD-R discs didn't always read correctly. But that may have been the responsibility of the trash DVD burner (Toshiba), which came with my eMachines.

Oddly, I had a freestanding DVD burner by Pioneer, which pumped out hundreds if not thousands of Video discs onto DVD-R blanks, without a hiccup.

The most currently (and formerly), durable media, is good old fashioned silver B & W photo prints, dark stored.

I full well realize it's not germane to this issue either, but I have some 40 year old Ektachrome slides which have been dark stored and are as good as new. Although, I also have some which have faded, or gotten moldy.

You're right thinking that optical media is likely the path to greatest longevity. However, "these kids today", and their streaming habit, along with the extravagant prices of prerecorded DVD & Blu-Ray, are causing the media to fade into oblivion. We just had a news article about Samsung would no longer be introducing new Blu-Ray players.

New computer cases are coming in plenty, without optical media slots, and well, "the rubber band breaks" on most computer burners in a couple of short years.(You push the "eject button" on the drive, and it just sits there and "burns rubber", in a manner of speaking.

So, as a matter of practicality, "the duck did come down", on the "there is no correct answer', answer.

Well Google probably will be around throughout everyone's lifetime in this thread. "Back Blaze" though, not really sure.

Privacy really isn't an issue for not using the cloud. I figure a hacker could make as many copies of your son's 2nd birthday party, and cause no harm nor earn a penny by illegally distributing them.

For the real hardcore stuff like birth certificates, deeds to your property (s), grandma's wedding ring, an old school safety deposit box is the best solution for those type things.

 

[cliffordcooley]

You push the "eject button" on the drive, and it just sits there and "burns rubber", in a manner of speaking.

I've only had that issue with HP branded drives (some I think were Toshiba). Since I started buying LG and Samsung, I no longer have that issue. I'm sure there are other brands that never had the issue. Does new drives still suffer from spinning wheels?

 

[cliffordcooley]

1. Photos - Upload to Google photos.
2. Documents - Use Google Suite format
3. Notes - Store information on Sign in Google accounts.

I prefer not using Google. I will continue to despise Google, as long as they are bundling their browser in every piece of freeware on the Internet. That pretty much classifies their browser as a PUP. With that said I do have an account. But I don't use it, unless I absolutely have to.

 

[SNGX1275]

I prefer not using Google. I will continue to despise Google, as long as they are bundling their browser in every piece of freeware on the Internet. That pretty much classifies their browser as a PUP. With that said I do have an account. But I don't use it, unless I absolutely have to.

Somewhat related... Microsoft recently upped my free OneDrive storage from 50GB to 100GB.. I'm not sure they are better than Google for storing my stuff, but they might be

 

[cliffordcooley]

Microsoft recently upped my free OneDrive storage from 50GB to 100GB

Mine is only 5GB. I'm now questioning why you would have 45GB more than I, and then upgraded to 100GB. They must be data mining or else they would want you to pay for anything higher than the other accounts.

On the rare occasion I might take a picture with my phone. I have it set to upload to OneDrive. I'm currently only using 15MB. The 5GB just isn't large enough for any backup solution I want. I'm not complaining just stating I can't use it unless paying for the upgrade. Which is why I don't understand why your free account was upgraded higher than 5GB. They must love your activity.

 

[SNGX1275]

Mine is only 5GB. I'm now questioning why you would have 45GB more than I, and then upgraded to 100GB. They must be data mining or else they would want you to pay for anything higher than the other accounts.

Yikes. I don't know man. https://imgur.com/a/SIrFF17

I've had a OneDrive account for a LONG time, and added some additional storage twice WAY back in the day when you could still exchange Bing points for additional storage, so that may have something to do with it.

 

[cliffordcooley]

when you could still exchange Bing points for additional storage, so that may have something to do with it.

You may have something there. I never did trade point. I have 62K points at the moment.

 

[SNGX1275]

I have 62K points at the moment.

Oh man, start cashing those things in for gift cards!

 

[oliverpowell]

Well, whatever storage device you chose all are uncertain in life and needs special treatment when you want to store data for long time. I won't suggest any CD or DVD because several scratches on the platter of the disc may ruin your data. I will suggest you to go for any Seagate or WD external hard drive to store your important and personal data for long time as it's easy to maintain and store these drives.

 

[Evernessince]

Well, whatever storage device you chose all are uncertain in life and needs special treatment when you want to store data for long time. I won't suggest any CD or DVD because several scratches on the platter of the disc may ruin your data. I will suggest you to go for any Seagate or WD external hard drive to store your important and personal data for long time as it's easy to maintain and store these drives.

External Hard drives are not suitable for the OP's use case. They need to restore the strength of the magnetization every 3 years. That's at the maximum. Ideally you would run the drive more frequently then that. The OP has clearly stated they want to store it long term.

 

[DelJo63]

Good discussion. suggest reading this article also

How to Archive Your Data (Virtually) Forever

You may very well be the king of backing up your data regularly, but archiving your data is a completely different ball game.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[betty98]

USB flash drives or SD Cards are mainly use for transferring data from one device to another, but aren't ideal for storage of data because the devices have a substantial chance of getting broken or failing. Flash drives / Pen drives / SD Cards can die or stop working when device hardware components fail.

In that case it is not a good idea to store your important data in flash drives or memory cards for long term. It’s always better to have a complete data backup in another Hard drives & if you’re backed up with any data recovery software then it’s a plus point & win win situation for you to face any data loss scenario in future.

 

[cliffordcooley]

There is not a storage medium that doesn't have failures. It is best not to rely on any one storage medium.

 

[retromanish]

It is very strange to recommend a CD or DVD in the 21st century. I prefer to store data in Telegram - it's free and secure.

 

[martinsmith]

Hard drives it's a good idea to keep backups on removable storage media as well The main options include CD-R, DVD and Blu-ray optical discs. With optical drives, you should use high quality discs and store them in a cool, dark and dry place..

 

[Kartikeya]

I would rather use a hard drive as it can save backups on removable storage

 

[Geepa]

Keep and store the originals. If you must rely on electronic storage, make multiple copies and renew before the storage device(s) expire. That way they are updated with technology.