Will your digital photos survive 10 years?

by Christopher Phin on Feb 14, 2008

Back up - and why you can't trust CDs
The simplest way to avoid losing photos is to back them up. In practice, backing up images isn’t any different to backing up any other kind of data, but we’ll highlight a few special considerations.

Basic principles first: you can never have too many backups. A poorly implemented or weak backup scheme, particularly if it isn’t checked regularly, can be worse than no backup whatsoever, because it lulls the user into a false sense of security.

The trick here is to achieve the right balance between water-tight security and convenience. We could advise you to back up daily to three different media, rotating backup sets and storing duplicates off-site – don’t worry, we won’t – but few people have the time or inclination to do so. On the other hand, don’t assume you can set a backup script that asks you for a blank CD every Friday, and think you’ve done enough. It’s vital you understand the capabilities of different media, and that you don’t entrust your precious data to just one type.

One of the worst offenders here is recordable optical media. Although the technology hasn’t been around long enough even for accelerated ageing techniques to gauge their lifespan accurately, most people agree that, even when cared for and not exposed directly to sunlight, it’s wise to re-burn CD-R and DVD±R discs at least every two years. This is due partly to the potential for the dye that holds the data to degrade, for the silver reflective layer to oxidise, and for chemicals in permanent markers often used to identify discs to cause surface degradation. And this is without taking into account scratches, cracking and other damage through use.

If you do use optical discs, reburn regularly and use writeable rather than rewritable media, as the dye is more unstable on the latter. HD DVD and Blu-ray are nascent technologies, and we wouldn’t yet recommend either as a long-term storage strategy, as you might end up in the position of a Betamax enthusiast who can’t find a video player to view his collection.

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This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of PC Authority.