Why digital archiving is more than "store and ignore"
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What challenges do digital archivists face with physical media?
Just because something's in the cloud now doesn't mean it'll always be there. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Stephanie Hughes.
As a radio person, there are few worse feelings than when you realize some tape you thought you had nicely stored is actually gone. And when I say tape, I mean the digital sound recording. All digital files are stored on physical media such as hard drives or what's called LTO data tape. And anything physical can fail. So some companies and libraries and public radio stations turn to digital archivists. I talked with one, Linda Todich, who leads the company Digital Bedrock. I spoke with her about the work that goes into digital preservation.
How do digital archivists handle data preservation?
we almost had a horror story. It was for a television series and an important one. And the first season of it, they couldn't find it. And so thank goodness again, they had a second copy that was okay. And we can restore the data off because a lot of this in working with people who have had data for a while, It's on older storage media. It's on older drives like firewire drives. You don't have cables anymore. We have to become a museum with hardware. They're on old LTO tape written in a backup system, which is proprietary.
What are some horror stories related to digital archiving?
So we have to have Windows XP machines running, Windows 95 machines running, so that we can use some of that older backup software, which is obsolete. That gets to the obsolescence factor to get that data off.
Why is this so hard?
You know, people reminisce about the old days where you had film, you could just put it, you know, the can on a shelf and everything, and that's called store and ignore. And with digital content, you can't do that. You have to be really aware of it. So that's it. And so you have the whole file format thing. I mean, thinking about the future storage, even if you have something that can last a thousand years or more, The data on it is obsolete.
Why is it important to understand the physical roots of digital files?
You make a file today, okay, cool. In a thousand years, you won't be able to play it, you know, because the software, the hardware won't exist to be able to play that file. It is hard.
You know, this whole conversation, I think, is a good reminder that our digital files have physical roots. I think that's easy to forget. Why is that important for people to remember?
People should know that the cloud has a heavy weight. The cloud is using the same physical data storage media as we all are. And people need to know that because it's so easy just to have it out of sight, out of mind. They need to understand that their data is being stored in environments on data media, which has finite lives.
How can outdated technology impact data recovery?
They are physical just as we are. They are mechanical. They're going to fail just as we do. Everything's going to fail. unless you put it on a rock and even rocks can grow over time. You know, so that's why with digital storage, you have to migrate it. That's just the mindset. You know, it's just a fact of life. You know, digital is here to stay. That's how we live now.
What success stories illustrate the importance of digital archiving?
We'll be right back.
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You're listening to Marketplace Tech. I'm Stephanie Hughes. We're back with Linda Todich, founder and CEO of Digital Bedrock.
How does digital archiving contribute to preserving history?
to ask about, you know, if you have any more success stories. You know, at another job, I once thought I had deleted contact information for this really important source. And I remember someone who worked in IT was really kind to me and he said, everything is somewhere. And then he found it. And I'm wondering, and I still think about that moment. Have you ever been the hero in that way?
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What challenges do digital archivists face with physical media?
0:01–0:53
2
How do digital archivists handle data preservation?
0:53–1:25
3
What are some horror stories related to digital archiving?
1:25–2:07
4
Why is it important to understand the physical roots of digital files?
2:07–2:49
5
How can outdated technology impact data recovery?
2:49–3:11
6
What success stories illustrate the importance of digital archiving?
3:11–3:56
7
How does digital archiving contribute to preserving history?
3:56–5:49