“A false sense of security persists surrounding digitized documents…Without constant maintenance and management, most digital information will be lost in just a few decades. Our modern records are far from permanent.”
— Adrienne Bernhard, Shining A Light On The Digital Dark Age, The Long Now Foundation
Technology has given us power that our ancient ancestors might mistake for that of a deity. But it’s also made us arrogant. While we may rightly point to our achievements against childhood mortality, starvation, and our knowledge of flight, other areas are terribly lacking.
Namely, in data storage.
Now, this may cause you to tilt your head in surprise. And why wouldn’t it? You’re likely reading these words on a device with gigs of storage, not to mention your handy flash drive not far away. Perhaps you even have cloud backup. Inevitably, it’s all not as secure as you think.
According to data storage company Arcserve, electronic memory was first developed in 1947, and the first magnetic tapes in 1951. While digital may be magical and fast, durability isn’t its strong point.