What's Going to Last the Longest?

[MrsOpie]

So, I would really like my clients to have their wedding pictures last 100+ years so my question is.. What's going to last the longest?

DVD?
Wedding Album?
Prints?

[Toogy]

Wedding Albums or Prints... forget the DVD... it'll be lucky to last 10 years. seriously.

[liza]

My money is on the wedding album, if it's from a good company. The prints last a long time as well. I have several old family pics from the late 19th century that have held up quite well over the years. As for a DVD, my guess is that it will be outdated in 10 years if not sooner, given the great strides in technology recently.

[liza]

Wedding Albums or Prints... forget the DVD... it'll be lucky to last 10 years. seriously.

Great minds think alike. :lol:

[sam0329]

I vote for wedding album. A nice one will last for a long time, I am not saying photos not good but it can be lost easily for some people.

[Steiglitz]

Prints will last the least amount of time. For long, long term storage, burn on premium gold optical, and create new back ups of those every 3-5 years on the latest, and improved media as the decades pass....so that in 500 years the bytes on the latest back up are exactly the same as the original image which was made 500 years prior.

The very best prints will not last, and if one relies on such prints for archival, try taking a copy of a copy of a copy to propagate a print for "longevity"....bad idea, to be sure.

Go with digital optical and move same to newer back up media as the decades come and go.....they'll be fine 10,000 years from now....

Optical arhives are a bad idea only if one (1) uses inferior cheap disks, (2) does not back up same to newer better improved disks (3) stores the disks in less then ideal conditions....otherwise, digital archive is the best way to archive....

[CyberPet]

Album and prints, protected from light, finger prints, bla bla bla... there's no guarantee's for either of them (DVD's will last the shortest time though - needs to be backed up on every new media that will come along during the next 100 years). And with albums/prints, who want's an album or prints that you can't look at or touch? That seems pointless. So give no guarantee's for how long they will last, as it's all depending on how they are treated.

[MrsOpie]

Prints will last the least amount of time. For long, long term storage, burn on premium gold optical, and create new back ups of those every 3-5 years on the latest, and improved media as the decades pass....so that in 500 years the bytes on the latest back up are exactly the same as the original image which was made 500 years prior.

The very best prints will not last, and if one relies on such prints for archival, try taking a copy of a copy of a copy to propagate a print for "longevity"....bad idea, to be sure.

Go with digital optical and move same to newer back up media as the decades come and go.....they'll be fine 10,000 years from now....

Optical arhives are a bad idea only if one (1) uses inferior cheap disks, (2) does not back up same to newer better improved disks (3) stores the disks in less then ideal conditions....otherwise, digital archive is the best way to archive....

The premium gold optical disc won't last any longer then the cheap ones because whether its gold or aluminum they are both metal and will degrade over the years. I agree with updating the media every few years to keep up with the times.

[tim]

Same as Toogums I think think the album will last the longest, that's why I use Queensberry album - they're very well made and I trust them.

[danpass]

I believe hard drives are still THE standard when it comes to archiving. They are sealed.

Then albums (prints are 'covered')

Then prints

Then gold cd's (aluminum does corrode in its own way but gold doesn't). Found the link: http://www.mam-a.com/

Then DVD's. Something about how the data is written to DVD makes it less 'stable' over time.


Great idea copying over to the latest and greatest every decade or so.



.

[tim]

Great idea copying over to the latest and greatest every decade or so.

The document that comes with my CDs/DVDs tells customers they should put their images onto a hard drive, and write them to a new CD/DVD every 5 years.

[tofuboy]

So much of which will last the longest depends on how each is stored. For your clients prints and and/or albums will probably have the longest lifespan. For yourself, some sort of digital backup would be best... and keeping your backups current as technology changes. It's best to store writable CDs/DVDs in a low humidity temperature controlled location.

I found this somewhere, 'Kodak Endura E-Surface Color paper: The standard longevity is 100 years in home display and 200 years in dark storage.'

[howzitboy]

id say the album.

prints? forget them. how many prints can u even find in your house? mine are scattered everywhere. they will end up lost or thrown out, or even eaten by bugs lol.
cd/dvds wont last more then a few years and hard drives? those break faster then cd/dvd's.

[SimonG]

The premium gold optical disc won't last any longer then the cheap ones because whether its gold or aluminum they are both metal and will degrade over the years. ...
It's not so much the metallic reflective surface that you need to be concerned about, but rather the organic dye that is "burnt" during the writing process; this is what will break down over time causing your discs to become unreadable.

[Edit] That's not to say that you cannot have corrosion problems, but in my experience you really have to abuse the discs for this to be a real concern; it's much more likely for the dyes to break down if stored in sub-optimal conditions. That said, there are some relatively stable discs out there, so if you need to burn data to something it's worth the extra cost to seek these out.

[th3r0m]

Obviously this would not be ideal for a photographer as we deal with massive amounts of data repeatedly, but what about a memory card (sd or compact flash) Yes, they are more expensive and technology will change, so you would need to update, but they are solid state, sealed and should be less prone to problems than either a hard drive or DVD? Understandably, one would have to find a way to make them read only (to prevent them from being overwritten). I will have to dig a little bit more to figure out if they indeed have the longevity needed, but it is something I have been thinking about for a while. As to the expense, it can be included into the package. A basic 4GB card is running less than $50 right now and if it can pass the test of time then I would go for it.

[GertS]

I believe hard drives are still THE standard when it comes to archiving. They are sealed.

Then albums (prints are 'covered')

Then prints.

Unfortunately you can expect a life span of about 5 years of a regular drive. Therefore they must be in a cool case.
Some USB external HD cases just "cook" them to death in a very short time, as the air flow is just an internal circle. I made this bad experience with a Maxtor drive, it didn't survive 6 months.:cry::cry::cry: The reason is that they have a nice looking plastic case around an inner metal case. Removing the top plastic side and the drive stays really cool. Security over beauty. ;)

The sealing doesn't protect against fire, floods, falling down too.

Therefore I would place it below prints.

[GertS]

That's not to say that you cannot have corrosion problems, but in my experience you really have to abuse the discs for this to be a real concern; it's much more likely for the dyes to break down if stored in sub-optimal conditions. That said, there are some relatively stable discs out there, so if you need to burn data to something it's worth the extra cost to seek these out.

The dye is a mixture of different materials. The industry believed when introducing CDs that this lasts forever. In the mean time they know that this is not true, as the different plastics are changing in the years.

There was an interesting article in a serious German computing news ticker. All music CDs produced in Germany are stored in a former mine as "backup". The number of no longer readable CDs is increasing, even though they are store under perfect conditions and only read for "tests" about once a year.

[Banbert]

There was an interesting article in a serious German computing news ticker. All music CDs produced in Germany are stored in a former mine as "backup". The number of no longer readable CDs is increasing, even though they are store under perfect conditions and only read for "tests" about once a year.

Having heard quite a bit of German music (my wife worked out there for 6 months) I think thats more of a blessing than a problem :D

Seriously though I agree wih the majority that Albums are the best for long term archiving, you can give a customer a CD or DVD along with some instructions about how they should re-write it to new media every 5 years but if you actually think it will happen then I think your deluded.