Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT

[John Spencer <js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom, very well stated - one of my underlying fears is the collective  
wisdom of those steeped in analog best practices is declining  
rapidly. Not to mention the gear itself and those able to repair it.

John
John Spencer
BMS/ Chace LLC
1801 8th Ave. S.  Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203
office (615) 385-1251
email: js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.bridgemediasolutions.com


On Mar 27, 2007, at 6:00 AM, Tom Fine wrote:

> 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