Ask HN: Best way to backup a 5 minute movie for 50 years?
I want future generations to be able see short moments from their ancestors, like my marriage proposal.
How can I reliably store for the very long term?
How can I reliably store for the very long term?
The next best way is to realise that things like wedding videos get watched maybe twice - and your descendants likely won't care.
You could save the video in a variety of open codecs on multiple media and hope that at least one of them is compatible with machines in 10 years time (good luck finding a contemporary machine which reads minidiscs!)
Ideally, you would set up a legal trust which is tasked with shifting the media onto new formats every few years. That's complex and costly. And, even if you do find a law firm which isn't going to go bust, get bought out, or simply forget - you don't have any standing to sue. Because you'll be dead.
Finally, and this is similar to the first suggestion, you could create a tradition in your family to watch the clip every Xmas / solstice / anniversary. Keep that tradition alive for the next 50 years and I dare say it will become part of your family legend - similar to https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2017/jan/0...
As long as OP sticks to traditional and established formats and pays attention every 5-10 years to migrate their data onto their new PCs, etc. it shouldn't be that much of a problem.
But, in my estimation, they're little more than scams because the customer has no recourse once they've died. Just like cryogenic freezing - take the money in the sure knowledge that it doesn't matter if you don't uphold your end of the deal.
I think we need to solve this problem. The need extends beyond family and pet pics. A not-insignificant portion of human mind products are initially obscure and in private margins, waiting for subsequent discovery.