On Fri, Aug 9, 2019, 2:45 AM Kevin Cozens via talk <
talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2019-08-02 8:03 a.m., Russell Reiter via talk wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 2, 2019, 7:23 AM Stewart C. Russell via talk <talk@gtalug.org
> <mailto:talk@gtalug.org>> wrote:
>
> On 2019-08-01 11:09 p.m., D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> >
> > - punch cards and paper tape: 100 years
> >
> > - 9-track mag tape: 10 years
[snip]
> Good luck getting a reader for any of these now. At least the paper
> media is scannable.
>
>
> Chances are if you have the data on tape, you already have the reader. These
> folks will repair or replace your equipment.
[snip]
> ????It may seem out of date, but there is still a strong business case for
> maintaining the original archive records on original format, as well as a
> copy transferred to newer media, depending on the importance of the dataset
> itself.??
I have printouts of programs that had been printed on an old IBM 1403 chain
printer, some programs that are on punch cards, and one on paper tape. I
also have two mag tapes reels that were used with IBM mainframes. I have no
idea what is on those tapes. The printouts, punch cards, and paper tape have
survived intact for over 40 years.
I still (mostly) remember how to read punch cards. I would have to find a
site to help decode the paper tape but it could be run through an ASR 33
teletype to generate a printout.
I recently discovered I have a cassette tape with 4K BASIC for Altair 8800
dated 1976. I have now archived the audio on that cassette that on to my
computer. I have other cassette tapes I used with old computers that I'm
doing to digitize and attempt to decode.
There are also technologies which were developed but which got overwhelmed by rapid changes in other areas. The lazer optical turntable for playing old records is one.
Also from this link, a camera which scans the vinyl grooves and uses software to reconstruct the sound. Both of these technologies were eclipsed by compact disk technology, yet each of them could (probably) non destructively read the records and reconstruct the sound. Sort of a microfiche picture treatment of sound, instead of its traditional use for tiny copies of text and pictures.
It is interesting to realize that a lot of this "old school technology" has
survived many a decade yet modern devices like CDs, DVDs, and hard drives
often have much shorter shelf lives.
One of the philosophical founders of media theory, Marshal McLuhan said; "the medium is the message." This is probably more true today than it was when he coined the phrase, given all the hyperbole around the collection of metadata on the net these days.
The issue with recording data electronically is bit-rot. This problem is amplified by making a copy of a copy of a copy etc. Having a master copy, no matter what the form, would be be beneficial for any data recovery expert, should they have an urgent need to reconstruct the original data after suspected corruption.
We can't reverse entropy, at least not yet. The best we can hope to do is retard it. Whether data is corrupted by dust and scratches in vinyl or cd records, we should always be able to recreate the old technology used for the creation of media at the time it was originally written. Except of course that which is lost to the ancient past, like the lazer anti gravity devices used by the Egyptians to cut and stack rocks into pyramids.
We have the lazers but fall short on the anti-gravity devices. Personally I believe that if we don't bit-rot the planet first, we will get there eventually. ;-)