I can tell you that mp3 falls over if you try and save a tape recording with it... mp2 works better for that. Seriously though... mp3 is archaic and should not be used to save new music - opus kills it 🙂
IMHO a Maxell UR90 with Dolby B would outperform MP3 128. Actually, I'd go as far as saying any cheap normal tape will sound better than anything encoded with joint stereo. If you ever want to hear just how disgusting joint stereo is, go get a 128kbit mp3 and play it with "stereo voice removal" AKA invert one channel and go mono. Even when I was actively encoding with MP3 (a good ten years ago now (EDIT: L3ENC stopped development in 1997 so more like 15 years ago) - went to Vorbis and then Opus) I was using dual channel 256kbit encoded with L3ENC v2.61 for DOS. Lame wasn't bad, but L3ENC was better. Yes, I still have L3ENC for DOS... I somehow still have my "utils" directory from my 286 onward.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_(audio_format)
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There is a issue with digital formats. The two mainstream non-volatile storage mediums, flash memory and magnetic memory, are both unsuited for long-term storage. They both needs to be refreshed/copied periodically, or the data will be gone. This is expecially true for modern formats with built-in compression and encryption. The issue has become so bad that some of the latest high density mechanical hard drives continuosly rewrite the medium at idle times. This does explains why you sometimes hear activity noise even when the computer is idle and the hdd activity indicator is off. The storage subsystem configuration settingns on storage servers have a section to control the core "patrol" function: they ciclycally read every block of the medium to trigger the error recovery/data refresh feature of the storage medium firmware. Maybe you stored some old files on a usb hard drive 10 years ago and never turned it on since: there is a good chance that next time you try to use it, it simpy would not work anymore, This will be almost a certainity 10 years from now. The issue is even worse on any microprocessor-based device: the firmware is now stored on high density flash roms. They will not be readable anymore after 30-40 years. Future collectors will not be able to just replace some capacitors on a 50+ years old device made today and have it working again. Archival-grade digital storage media does exists, but it does not have widespread use.
The same issue applies to tape. With cassette you get print-through. With reel to reel you get delamination... Wire recordings outlived their players... Records still play after 100+ years though, but none of the ones you'd "record" at home still play. They all crazed. CD had bitrot issues.
The idea is that cloud storage is automagically backed up and redundant without user input... Gone are the days where it was cheaper to mail an SSD than upload the files.
I have an 8TB Seagate "archive" drive that does that after idle for a time - it's SMR and slow AF.
The idea is that cloud storage is automagically backed up and redundant without user input... Gone are the days where it was cheaper to mail an SSD than upload the files.
I have an 8TB Seagate "archive" drive that does that after idle for a time - it's SMR and slow AF.
Nothing is meant to be permanent anymore. Wait till they outlaw physical media or locally stored files - or at least change the hardware or software enough where it won’t run. Require everything to be downloaded from the cloud, paying as you go. If your credit card stops working you won’t have access to music anymore. Period. End of discussion. Send us a new account number and you can continue. Eventually that old XP computer you have will die, and with it the old QuickTime plug-in that you used to use, and has no modern equivalent. But I wouldn’t put it past the “music industry” to lobby for some stupid law so you can’t legally play old CDs either.
They might. But hasn't the great unwashed public always found a way around that?
I dunno about flash memory, although I do have a few that are more than 10 years old, the data on them has been changed many times. But that isn't how I store data long term. I buy new drives and move or copy the data to them. And then to newer drives and so on.
Yesterday I threw away a big heavy Seagate 2TB 3.5" HDD. It was at least 10 years old and still working just fine as storage. The data was valuable, the big, heavy drive with external PSU was less so. All data got moved to a much smaller, ligheter USB powered 2TB drive. And that will get moved to some other drive in a decade or so. As well as existing as an exact copy on 2 other HDD. Not so easy to do with analog.
And if you're really serious, you'd just use RAID5 or RAID0... If you're like me, you do it like Pano, except my data is on an 8TB RAID1 with an 8TB disc in a USB dock for backup.It's in such a place that if there were a fire, I could grab it and run. An offsite backup would be best. I'm thinking of taking the 8TB drive to my father's house and doing incremental backups over the internet. Could set it up to be two way so he'd backup to mine.
Pano, the old drives are rugged compared to the new ones.
Keep it in a safe place, don't throw it away...
And when you buy new desktop drives, get the SV (surveillance / CCTV) grade, they are more reliable, being intended for many more read write cycles.
The data transfer rates are lower, but I prefer those.
Price difference is nominal, and I prefer Toshiba, (old Hitachi Deskstar), better build quality, small things like all pads soldered (less chance of corrosion), and so on.
I have seen that the bare tracks to the inner workings of the HDD from the PCB get corroded, (there are connectors there which touch the tracks) and the disk fails.
Does not happen on Toshiba.
Keep it in a safe place, don't throw it away...
And when you buy new desktop drives, get the SV (surveillance / CCTV) grade, they are more reliable, being intended for many more read write cycles.
The data transfer rates are lower, but I prefer those.
Price difference is nominal, and I prefer Toshiba, (old Hitachi Deskstar), better build quality, small things like all pads soldered (less chance of corrosion), and so on.
I have seen that the bare tracks to the inner workings of the HDD from the PCB get corroded, (there are connectors there which touch the tracks) and the disk fails.
Does not happen on Toshiba.
"Deathstar" you mean... At least that was what we called them when IBM made them... Here's a picture of the platters from one of them!
The next HDD I buy will be probably be a Seagate EXOS enterprise drive. There was a 14TB WD Red Pro on for 240$ last week though - that was tempting... The big thing is to make sure you buy a drive with warranty. Some of the sellers on Amazon for instance are selling OEM drives with no Seagate warranty.
Here is an example of a great price with no warranty - you have to read the questions/comments to find out, too.
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-256MB-3-5-Inch-Enterprise-ST16000NM001G/dp/B07SPFPKF4
This one is an X18 instead of X16 (newer model), costs 25$ more and has a Seagate warranty.
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Exos-16TB-Enterprise-ST16000NM000J/dp/B0924X39NB
The last time I had to warranty a Seagate, they did cross shipment which meant I could copy my data from the failing drive to the new one rather than send the dead one in and wait for a replacement. S.M.A.R.T. said it was going to fail so they warrantied it.
My current main storage drives are both 4TB WD Red in RAID0 - I just buy the cheapest ones because I back the data up and I don't care if it fails. The same way Google does it.
Surveillance drives are alright but I find them to be slower and more costly than a NAS disc. Don't get an SMR drive unless you're writting it rarely for back up purposes only - They are quite slow compared to their CMR counterparts.
The next HDD I buy will be probably be a Seagate EXOS enterprise drive. There was a 14TB WD Red Pro on for 240$ last week though - that was tempting... The big thing is to make sure you buy a drive with warranty. Some of the sellers on Amazon for instance are selling OEM drives with no Seagate warranty.
Here is an example of a great price with no warranty - you have to read the questions/comments to find out, too.
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-256MB-3-5-Inch-Enterprise-ST16000NM001G/dp/B07SPFPKF4
This one is an X18 instead of X16 (newer model), costs 25$ more and has a Seagate warranty.
https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Exos-16TB-Enterprise-ST16000NM000J/dp/B0924X39NB
The last time I had to warranty a Seagate, they did cross shipment which meant I could copy my data from the failing drive to the new one rather than send the dead one in and wait for a replacement. S.M.A.R.T. said it was going to fail so they warrantied it.
My current main storage drives are both 4TB WD Red in RAID0 - I just buy the cheapest ones because I back the data up and I don't care if it fails. The same way Google does it.
Surveillance drives are alright but I find them to be slower and more costly than a NAS disc. Don't get an SMR drive unless you're writting it rarely for back up purposes only - They are quite slow compared to their CMR counterparts.
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Yes, that's something I need to do.
I'm in the process of moving to the tropical jungles, so not taking much with me. 3 or 4 little Toshiba drives will be all.
Good to know.
What happens to my data in 50 or 100 years when I'm not around to take care of it? Who knows? Of course I won't care. 😛 My cassettes and negatives and slides might stand a better chance of surviving intact than computer files will, but that depends on someone holding on to the analog media for decades and not chucking it all in the bin. At least a couple TB of data won't be difficult for my descendants to store. "OK, copy over the old Pano folder to the new drive."
A couple?
https://www.pcgamer.com/toshiba-to-release-26tb-hdds-this-year-30tb-to-come-later/
Once upon a time that much storage was impossible. Now it fits in your pocket!
https://www.pcgamer.com/toshiba-to-release-26tb-hdds-this-year-30tb-to-come-later/
Once upon a time that much storage was impossible. Now it fits in your pocket!
I have a TASCAM DR40 that works just fine and allows playlist and folder to be made within the unit