U.S. National Archives’ advice on preserving your digital memories

The National Archives has spent numerous hours evaluating their options for preserving recent history that is mostly comprised of digital documents, recordings and photography. While the consumer market has been swayed by manufacturers’ claims to believe their own family archives are safely stored when recorded on DVDs, the National Archives has a different stance:

“CD/DVD experiential life expectancy is 2 to 5 years even though published life expectancies are often cited as 10 years, 25 years, or longer. However, a variety of factors discussed in the sources cited in FAQ 15, below, may result in a much shorter life span for CDs/DVDs. Life expectancies are statistically based; any specific medium may experience a critical failure before its life expectancy is reached. Additionally, the quality of your storage environment may increase or decrease the life expectancy of the media. We recommend testing your media at least every two years to assure your records are still readable.”
National Archives Website

Sadly, most people don’t know this. Tell your friends before they lose their important memories. Let them know there’s a better, less risky way to preserve their family history.

Sympathy for T-Mobile Sidekick Users

Sheesh

I cannot imagine the angst that I would feel if I were to discover my address book, photos and other personal files on my phone were lost and irretrievable. This would be especially painful if I was led to believe a third-party service had been backing up my information using online storage yet were now telling me my data is gone.

Such is the reality for T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone users. They have recently been advised to not allow their batteries to run down or their phones to shut off because if they do, all is lost and irretrievable. Holy cow!

The Sidekick cell phone has been widely used for years and one of the substantial benefits has been the automatic back up service. Sidekick users were ensured that even if they tossed their phone into the river or under a car tire, as soon as they fired up the replacement Sidekick, all contacts, photos and other personal files would magically appear.

In today’s digital world we need to proactively protect what is important to us. This includes digital files like family photos, family videos, business documents, etc. It’s incidents like the Sidekick debacle that should give us reason to pause and reconsider how exposed to losing very important memories and information we are allowing ourselves. Read more »

My Cranberry Quest, The Beginning

What happens to a picture with data loss.

It was late 2005 and I had just finished a meal with Jeff Barr at what used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Bellingham, the Big Fat Fish Company.  Why that establishment used to be my favorite is a topic for an entirely different blog post.

As we were leaving I asked Jeff what kind of digital camera he used. What I’d hoped would be a quick recommendation for a replacement camera turned out to be an eye opening experience.  Jeff said he didn’t like the concept of digital pictures and digital video because he didn’t know of any viable way to store digital files for the long term.

What?  Nobody told me that. I’d been using a digital camera for years. Was he saying that all of my pictures were in jeopardy?  Turns out that’s exactly what he was saying. Jeff works for Amazon as a technology evangelist and is a pretty credible guy in my book.  I paid close attention and felt compelled to do some research of my own. Read more »