Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi John:

You don't want to hear any more of my thoughts because I just know WHAT I recommend to institutional 
clients (managed, redundant, off-site-mirrored storage), I am not expert enough to get into any nuts 
and bolts. I should have probably not mentioned specific listmembers because I know there are other 
experts, such as yourself. What I tell my institutional clients is that THEY or someone on their 
staff needs to understand this stuff and find a vendor or an in-house IT guy who can do it to a 
level of permanence and redundancy that works for their archive. I would argue that, for an 
institution, it's actually much more important to understand the nuts and bolts of digital storage 
than to understand audio. Guys like me -- people who will do your audio transfer and do a better job 
than your broken-down in-house equipment and non-expert labor can achieve -- we're plentiful. But 
once our work is done, the institution needs to live with the pile of digital files, and hopefully 
store them in a manner that will make the cost of my work a one-time expense. This will become even 
more important a couple decades down the line when their original analog source material (or even 
digital source material like DATs or ADAT) becomes unplayable or playback equipment simply doesn't 
exist (very likely in the case of DAT, for instance).

So, to be honest, I don't have any thoughts worth sharing on OAIS compliance.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Spencer" <js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 11:24 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT


> Well, Tom,
>
> I'm not anyone of the folks you mention below, but we have several  LTO drives scattered across 
> the country to support our local storage  networks. The supplemental migration cost of LTO tapes 
> (skipping 2  generations) is very low and affordable for most of our clients. At  some point, I'm 
> sure we'll have another high-density storage format  to use as we piggyback on the LTO roadmap 
> until then.
>
> I'd like to hear your thoughts more on the management of storage. Are  you referring to an OAIS 
> compliant repository, or other methods?
>
> Jim Lindner made a pretty good case for LTO over on the AMIA list  within the last couple of days, 
> and they are dealing with video/ film  scan file sizes.
>
> -John
>
> John Spencer
> BMS/ Chace LLC
> 1801 8th Ave. S.  Suite 200
> Nashville, TN 37203
> office (615) 385-1251
> fax (615) 385-0153
> cell (615) 714-1199
> email: js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.bridgemediasolutions.com
>
>
> On Mar 26, 2007, at 4:48 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
>
> > I hope Richard and/or Parker and/or Spec Bros. jump in here. The  ONLY answer is managed and 
> > constantly migrated storage. You simply  cannot live by the old "put it on a shelf in a clean, 
> > cool room"  idea anymore. Digital storage must be in constant motion --  literally since hard 
> > drives have been known to fail or never start  up again if left idle on a shelf (ask around 
> > Hollywood, everyone  has a horror story or two). You have to plan to have a "living"  hard drive 
> > array that is redundant, preferably with a constantly  mirrored clone at a different location, 
> > and plan on swapping out  drives every XX hours of use or at worst when they inevitably fail. 
> > There are firms that do this on an out-source basis, I think. I  believe the 90's dot-bomb term 
> > was "storage farms." Some of them  are actually located in old bomb shelters and missle bunkers.
> >
> > -- Tom Fine
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- From: "andy kolovos"  <akolovos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 5:00 PM
> > Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT
> >
> >
> > > Lauren,
> > >
> > > As a short-to-medium-term storage solution--and as a part of a  more comprehensive 
> > > approach--multiple HDD is the best most of us  can do at this point in time.
> > >
> > > I prefer Maxtor and Western Digital drives, and I favor those that  come in enclosures that 
> > > offer FireWire and an on/off switch.  Very  vexing to have no on/off switch.
> > >
> > > In some cases it can be more cost effective to purchase Maxtor/WD  internal drives, reliable 
> > > external enclosures and build them  yourself. I've had good luck with the "Neptune" line of 
> > > enclosures  from Other World Computing (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ 
> > > firewire/add-ons-and-hubs/enclosure-kits) and have heard good  things about their "Mercury 
> > > Elite" enclosures as well.
> > >
> > > As others have mentioned, just like Coco Puffs are part of a  complete breakfast that includes 
> > > toast, juice and etc., external  HDD is part of comprehensive, lower-cost storage approach that 
> > > includes optical disc and linear tape.
> > >
> > > Not all of us can swing a RAID array.  Do the best you can with  what you have.
> > >
> > > best,
> > >
> > > andy
> > > --
> > >
> > > Andy Kolovos
> > > Archivist/Folklorist
> > > Vermont Folklife Center
> > > 3 Court Street ; P.O. Box 442
> > > Middlebury, VT 05753
> > > (802) 388-4964
> > > akolovos @ vermontfolklifecenter.org
> > > http://www.vermontfolklifecenter.org