"Addison Del Mastro was intrigued by the building you see here. Yes, it’s a Pizza Hut, but it is somewhat different from the iconic architectural style of the pizza chain. We’ve seen plenty of buildings with that style that used to be Pizza Huts, but this is the opposite- a Pizza Hut that apparently used to be something else. So Del Mastro started researching the location’s history. It wasn’t easy.
While the story behind the building is quite a ride, the greater story is the way record-keeping is changing and and how fragile digital records really are. Digitizing books, photos, historical records, and newspapers seems like a wonderful idea, because it saves physical storage space and makes searching easier, but it also relies on changing technology."
I don’t see the danger. I have not yet seen a time where a digital format goes away completely overnight with no way to transition or covert those digital files to a new format or new storage method. We have transitioned storage from floppies to CDs to backup hard drives to network storage. We are now moving to a new digital system. I have no doubt that will change over time.
When I started, everything was stored in WordPerfect format. Then everything moved to Word. Then everything moved to scanned PDFs. Now any final documents are either created in PDF or scanned and OCR’d so it is searchable. We have a significant need to access past documents and searching digital files is way more efficient than finding something in a paper copy.
Paper is also not a safe medium. During one of the last hurricanes here, the records at one of our locations were ruined since the building was flooded.
I still have files (stored) on older IDE drives, most are PICs. I wonder if/when a time will come that the hardware is no longer available to read these… I do have some really old MFM/RLL/ESDI drives… controllers included. So, maybe the tech will live on… still to early to really tell.
I still have files (stored) on older IDE drives, most are PICs. I wonder if/when a time will come that the hardware is no longer available to read these… I do have some really old MFM/RLL/ESDI drives… controllers included. So, maybe the tech will live on… still to early to really tell.
(BTW, I’m looking at the small scale…)
Even at small scale, there is a transition period between storage options. Now if a person decides not to transition their files during time, then not at the next time a new technology comes out and so on, it is the fault of that person sticking their head in the sand and ignoring all their opportunities to update to the latest technology or software.
Reminds me of the time I sent my old camcorder tapes away to be converted to digital files.
I don’t see the danger. I have not yet seen a time where a digital format goes away completely overnight with no way to transition or covert those digital files to a new format or new storage method. We have transitioned storage from floppies to CDs to backup hard drives to network storage. We are now moving to a new digital system. I have no doubt that will change over time.
The change between 7-track magnetic tape to 9-track tapes was technically possible at the time that that was happening. But many places did not make the conversion because they had tens of thousands or rolls of the stuff and they could not get the budget and staff to make the conversions. So it was all lost. Society may well be glad that a lot of it was lost, but some was priceless and it is gone too.
I still have files (stored) on older IDE drives, most are PICs. I wonder if/when a time will come that the hardware is no longer available to read these… I do have some really old MFM/RLL/ESDI drives… controllers included. So, maybe the tech will live on… still to early to really tell.
It’s not too early to tell. These drive interfaces have been abandoned. Yes, you can still get some, but it will get harder and harder to do that each year.
If the data on these drives means anything to you, now is the time to move the data to something more up to date.
If the data on these drives means anything to you, now is the time to move the data to something more up to date.
Amen, brother!
I tend to go for the cumulative approach. Everything (except Windows itself) from my last computer is on my new computer too. Likewise from the generation before that. Wasted space? Sure. But disk space keeps expanding faster than I accumulate files, and the price per whatever unit you prefer keeps dropping.
If the data on these drives means anything to you, now is the time to move the data to something more up to date.
That was done long ago Peter. I'm saving these more for "orig backup" and posterity, more than anything else. All PICs have carried forward on larger and larger drives, as data accumulates.
I'm even still using a 32bit app/program for editing text files that was originally written in 1992, with the last gen being 1999, called Programmer's File Editor (PFE). Works great and has carried on through the platforms! ...and yes, I've been using it almost as long. Remember batch files? ...easy to create with the proper editor. Something I carried forward, that still works today! Who remembers EDLIN? This is soooo much better!
That was done long ago Peter. I’m saving these more for “orig backup” and posterity, more than anything else.
Excellent. That wasn’t really clear from your comment.
Since so much of my data is my client’s personal information, I tend to destroy old drives rather than keep them for posterity. One less place for a potential problem. But there is some value in old stuff - otherwise museums would be empty.
Remember batch files?
Yep. Wrote a few handy ones for myself. At least they were handy at the time. Can’t recall what they did now. I think one ran my backup routines. Why buy some backup program when you can write a pretty simple batch file to do the backup for you?
I’m even still using a 32bit app/program for editing text files that was originally written in 1992, with the last gen being 1999, called Programmer’s File Editor (PFE). Works great and has carried on through the platforms! …and yes, I’ve been using it almost as long. Remember batch files? …easy to create with the proper editor. Something I carried forward, that still works today! Who remembers EDLIN? This is soooo much better!
