Losing the Past - Is backing up enough?

Although these programs are not CAD related they highlight the dependence we have on digital and other information recording techniques. It’s worth considering as we rush into an all digital age…

You’ve just finished that superb BIM, being cautious you’ve backed it up on a CDR or some other format. Even if you can retrieve those files in 20,30, 50 years time, will the applications to view/edit/use them still exist? Do you have files where the hardware/application used either no longer exists or will no longer run on todays hardware?

This need for “independence” is often an argument of the open source movement but “open” formats can have as little permanence as proprietary ones. How many attempts to establish “open” transparent formats wither and die. The overriding factor seems to be the mass of data using a given format and the need to access it as that creates the demand. Another thing to consider when considering that next application…

Losing the Past - BBC - Radio 4

“A timely investigation into the loss of cultural, public and historical records, both analogue and digital, as a result of deterioration or advances in technology.
In our headlong rush to go digital much of our past is becoming just meaningless code of 0s and 1s. A substantial amount of material stored on computers, magnetic tape and even CDs is no longer accessible due to rapid deterioration and obsolescence. The average life of a tape is fifteen years, a CD twenty, computer systems and software far less.”