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1970-01-01

1,000 year BDs are very cheap:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verbatim-M-Disc-BD-R-Branded-Surfac...

I'm siding with the UK until someone can tell me how these are NOT safer than paper archives.

Paper doesn't require specialized hardware or software to read. Sure, the discs are cheap and durable. But will the authorities keep a store of BD-readers? Maintain legacy computers compatible with those readers? Software to read archived files from those discs, with no online dependencies (e.g., license activation)?

This is something people are already thinking about, and it's a hard problem. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/02/13/386000092...

>Paper doesn't require specialized hardware or software to read.

But it does. To preserve the paper, you need a warehouse with HVAC, power, and constant maintenance. You could bury them in the dirt for 1000 years, but then you lose accessibility.

only if you want to store them in the open air. vacuum sealing them would obviate the need for an expensive hvac bill.

and deep ground is not ridiculous. we’re expecting the storage to be in the “mostly write only” regime, after all.

Your "very cheap" 1,000 year BD only has always 10 year warranty. I wouldn't want historical records stored on that.

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