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Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT



At 10:44 AM 2007-03-27, andy kolovos wrote:
Hi--

While I fully agree with what Tom and others are saying regarding managed storage, there's another level here that you guys seem simply to be dismissing--what do individuals and institutions who lack funds do to manage digital assets on a short-to-medium term basis? I still feel external HDD has a place in a lower cost, comprehensive digital asset management plan for people and organizations with limited funding and access to technology.

Hi, Andy,


I think it's more avoidance than dismissal...

My first suggestion to small archives is "who can you partner with?"

The small arm of U of T is partnering with the main library at U of T -- something that the library folks want since their goal is to be of service. I would think Bennington College or someone like that might be useful. The library digital repository will become as much of a part of the modern university library as the card catalog has been.

I have another client who is forging a relationship with another major university. In this case they are tied by geography and religion.

I have recommended three hard drives attached to three servers (and a server is very loose, my third set of hard drives is split between two computers). This can work up to 10, maybe 20 hard drives. I recommend aluminum drive cases with USB 2.0 and FW400 connectivity, not raw drives.

I also recommend ViceVersa Pro as the tool that performs updates (but do not propagate deletes).

I have some pretty out-of-date documentation on this here:
http://richardhess.com/notes/category/computer-data/data-storage/
I now have three sets of six 250 GB drives spinning. One is off site in my neighbour's basement at the end of a fibre optic cable.


I think this solution works well up to perhaps 10-20 TB.

Shelf storage of hard drives is culturally a bad idea as it just is adding another format to the shelf along with the magnetic tape and optical discs. Shelf storage is not "in your face" I have to deal with migration issues when I switch to the new operating system after Vista.

Cheers,

Richard

Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.



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