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From: buckland@cheddar.ucs.ubc.ca (Tony Buckland)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Magnetic media lifetime (question)
Message-ID: <9140@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: 14 Aug 90 16:42:08 GMT
References: <1472@leuze-owen.de>
Sender: news@cs.ubc.ca
Reply-To: buckland@cheddar.ucs.ubc.ca (Tony Buckland)
Organization: UBC Computing Centre, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 22

In article <1472@leuze-owen.de> fbraab@leuze-owen.de (Fritz B. Raab) writes:
>How long does a tape or dikette reliably hold data ?
 
 Regarding magnetic tape, reel type (I don't have long enough
 experience with cartridge type yet to comment): reliable is
 always a relative term.  Since magnetic tape is outside the
 filesave scheme you are (or should) be using, it has no backup
 unless you provide one.  The first rule, therefore, is always
 to duplicate any magnetic tape as a backup.  Secondly, use (at
 least mount and read) a magnetic tape every six months.  This
 will leave it properly tensioned on the reel and reduce the
 chance of a read error due to stretching or other physical
 distortion.  Thirdly, store tapes hanging vertically, to reduce
 the chance of damage along the edge from horizontal storage.
 Fourthly, store them in controlled temperature and humidity
 conditions, and open and use them only in dustfree conditions
 (a small dirt particle, hair, etc is enormous compared to the
 the density of your data).  Fifthly, after about five or ten
 years, replace the things anyway before slow erosion (from use)
 of the magnetic medium starts to reduce reliability.  Sixthly,
 reread rule one - always provide a backup by duplicating each
 tape every time you change its contents.