Is sending pictures to your email a good way to preserve them forever?

[iPwn]

The best backup method (IMHO) is DVD.

DVD's have a half-life of 100 years.
They are not susceptible to magnetic fields like USB's are.
They can hold just about all your pictures.
You can bury them.

Any of those companies are susceptible to cyber attack, business failure, or any other number of things. Physical Media kept in a fireproof safe is still the de facto backup method for just about every business.

 

[Draygoes]

I wish I had done backups about 3 years ago. It was when I was big into coding, and lost a lot of projects due to a problem that I had no idea how to solve. (Screen would not activate, and a beeping noise came from the computer. Never did find out what that was.)

 

[iPwn]

Screen would not activate, and a beeping noise came from the computer. Never did find out what that was.

Google: [Manufacturer] [Model] post beep codes

E.g. Lenovo ThinkPad S1 post beep codes


You'll get a nice breakout of what they mean

 

[Draygoes]

It was just a direct BEEP BEEP BEEP...
So I doubt that it would help. That system has been scrapped for the basic parts at this point anyway, now I am looking for a way to bridge the old HD so that I can get the data off of it. Its not compatible with newer systems, so I dont really know where to start. I have kepted it safe just in case though.

 

[BK_123]

If its an IDE hard drive then get an adapter or dock StarTech UNIDOCK3U Plastic 2.5" & 3.5" Black SATA & IDE USB 3.0 2.5in or 3.5in SATA and IDE HDD Docking Station - Newegg.com

 

[cb600fshornet]

It was just a direct BEEP BEEP BEEP...
So I doubt that it would help. That system has been scrapped for the basic parts at this point anyway, now I am looking for a way to bridge the old HD so that I can get the data off of it. Its not compatible with newer systems, so I dont really know where to start. I have kepted it safe just in case though.

You'd be surprised. Motherboards all perform a POST (Power on self test) on bootup, and each beeping pattern represents a different problem.

 

[Draygoes]

I am keeping a link to this thread just in case I ever encounter somthing like that again.

 

[root]

The best backup method (IMHO) is DVD.

DVD's have a half-life of 100 years.
They are not susceptible to magnetic fields like USB's are.
They can hold just about all your pictures.
You can bury them.

Any of those companies are susceptible to cyber attack, business failure, or any other number of things. Physical Media kept in a fireproof safe is still the de facto backup method for just about every business.

You can't say that DVDs have a hundred year life, mostly that's just not proven yet.

Did you ever hear of DVD rot?

Not to say that DVD is a bad backup medium, but it's not infallible.
A good backup strategy is multiple copies, backed up regularly.

This means that if you have a particular file it's likely to exist on several backup archives. Then you're not just reeling on one copy.

 

[iPwn]

You can't say that DVDs have a hundred year life, mostly that's just not proven yet.

Did you ever hear of DVD rot?

Not to say that DVD is a bad backup medium, but it's not infallible.

Fair enough, I can't exactly pass that as truth. Just something I remembered hearing in a college course about different storage media. Sure it's not indestructible, but I would think a DVD more reliable if pulled out of a drawer in 50 years... Probably won't even be an issue in that time, but still!

A good backup strategy is multiple copies, backed up regularly.

this.

 

[Draygoes]

Actually Disk rot is a real thing. They can last 10 years or longer if you package them correctly, but you want to backup to multiple sources.