1. Information In our Lives
and In the Universe
Snow College
November 13, 2015
Dr. Douglas Hansen

2. Data Preservation – Why?
Why Would You Want to Preserve Data?
Personal Information for Posterity
Critical Data for Future Generations
Census Data
Financial Data
Critical Research Results
What do you think?

3. Data Preservation – What?
What Would You Want For Decades or Longer?
Financial Records?
Genealogical Records?
Personal Images and Video?
Governmental Data (Census, etc)?
Business Records?
Research Results?
What Do You Think?

4. Have you suffered from data loss?
31% of all PC users suffer from data loss each year (Gartner)
Every week 140,000 hard drives crash in the USA (Mozy Online Backup)
52% of companies reported data loss in the past 12 months (TotalCIO)

5. disaster, filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster.
93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a
disaster, filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster.
(National Archives & Records Administration in Washington)
• 94% of companies suffering from a catastrophic data loss do not survive –
43% never reopen and 51% close within two years. (University of Texas)
• 77% of those companies who do test their tape backups found back-up failures.
(Boston Computing Network, Data Loss Statistics)
• 7 out of 10 small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a
year. (DTI/Price Waterhouse Coopers)

6. The Data Storage Implosion
All users of Digital Technology (all of us) have a problem!

7. Data created each year at
Data Explosion
Data created each year at
40% increase
2020
6.6X6.6 = 35 Zettabytes
2015
2.8x Zettabytes
2009
1x1 = 800 Exabytes
2007
Source: Matt Starr Spectra Logic

8. Main Categories of Hard Drive Failure Physical Electronic Logical
Hard Drives
Main Categories of Hard Drive Failure
Physical
Electronic
Logical
Mechanical breakdown takes place first, on average in roughly three years. (MicroCom)
BackBlaze Database shows hard drive failure will occur. (

9. Magnetic Tape
This presentation was given at the Library of Congress Designing Storage Architectures Conference in September 2014.
The title is a little dramatic, but the future of LTO tape is far from secure.

10. Flash Drives
The Flash Drive Failure Epidemic Is Here: Industry Expert Offers Advice “...widespread misuse and a nearly universal failure to back them up has led to thousands of people losing their important files every month.”
capacitor
resistor
Micro-controller
oscillator
Failed Flash Drive Components
Susceptible to physical damage
Susceptible to virus
Higher capacity increases failure rate
Lower cost results in lower quality

11. The Cloud – Is It Safe Is It Secure?
What if the Cloud Company Fails?
Can you trust any company for 50 years or more?
Do you want to pay every year to keep your data alive?
Do you want to lose your data because the bill got lost?
Hacking?
Legal Action - getting access to your data?

12. The message was engraved in rock!

13. Data Preservation – How?
What are the issues?
How do I get access in the future?
Is the format going to be readable?
Is the data even going to be there?
While the hardware needed to read it be available?
Can I afford the costs of keeping the data viable?
What approach makes sense to you?

14. Choose the right technology for mid to long term data storage
Time
Short term
Mid term
Long term
Flash
Hard Disk
What should go here?
Cloud

15. What is Happening In This Area?
Hard Drives Have Advanced for 40 years
Nothing I know of that will solve the Longevity Issue, but drives will probably be good for about 10 years for the foreseeable future
Solid State Memory
Flash Memory is going to be replaced by new technology
Some of these options look like they could be good for 20+ years
Optical Disc
Good Blu-ray recordable discs are probably good for 30 – 50 years
How do I know what is good?

16. What is Happening In This Area?
Issues and Problems
100 years or more:
Hardware, format, software, etc.
Is it cost effective to move data to new formats, hardware, etc?
Do we need to change our basic data paradigm?
In 1990, Computers were obsolete every 3 years.
In 2015, Computers are good for 7 – 10 years.
What will the situation be in 2020 or 2025?
Will the changes in data formats, hardware, software, etc, be as rapid in the future as it has been in the past?