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Re: [ARSCLIST] Storing Mini-Discs
At 06:18 PM 10/13/2005, Mike Richter wrote:
Richard L. Hess wrote:
Digitally transfer them to two CD-Rs and store the CD-Rs. Or better
yet, if you have a managed digital archive that can accept them,
store them in that.
I don't think many of us think that MDs are archival. I wouldn't
worry about an archival box for a medium that probably isn't
archival. I don't think we can expect the long-term availability of
MD players as compared to CD players.
I nearly replied along similar lines - then realized that there is
no reason the MD would not be durable and even archival as a medium.
The format is hardly recommend for quality recording and players may
well be a problem, but as a storage medium the M-O scheme employed
should be resistant to most of the ills other media are heir to.
Because of cost, mechanism and format, MD is not attractive for
archiving and probably has not had the sort of study archivists
would value, but given that the recordings are already on MD, a less
drastic solutions than transferring the content may be fitting.
Perhaps archiving four digital-output MD players for the first 500 or
fewer MDs and then one additional player per 250 disks might suffice.
Half of these should be tested every year on a rotating basis.
Failure of a single player should trigger the transfer to the current
medium of choice if playback machines are not then currently
available. If the machines are available, then more should be
purchased and archived.
Does anyone know what it costs to recover an MD at
http://www.esdl.co.uk/ ? These people sell a drive/utility which
might be another approach to transfer, but the drives they sell are
already discontinued and they keep asking for them.
Cheers,
Richard
Richard L. Hess richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada http://www.richardhess.com/
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm