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[pier4r]

(08-27-2017 06:05 AM)Dan Wrote:  I remember watching a documentary on the movie industry that warned a lot of newer movies are at a greater risk of being lost in the decades to come. It seems counter-intuitive and I can't remember the reasons they gave why the older movies on film are more likely to survive (maybe because they are better than most of the stuff studios are churning out these days).

Due to the storage medium. I was writing diaries on paper, then I moved on digital files. More people can read a digital text file (compared to my handwriting), I can share them and so on.

Nonetheless the amount of work to keep them available (OS changes, storage changes, failures, and so on) is a lot. It is a recurring chore.

Instead the diaries written on paper (or films/micro films) last longer. The moment I write them I have already a copy that will last for long time and if there is a disaster occurring (fire, flood, earthquakes etc...) it will be equally dangerous for digital storage.

The bigger the document (a movie with all the outtakes and so on) the higher the likelihood to lose it when it is stored on digital files.

The backup/storage industry will be more and more important as we realize that we want to lose less and less digital information. Unfortunately it is a pity that a lot of useful information is lost but people do not realize it. They cry about the library of Alexandria* without learning its lesson.

* ww2 alone destroyed way more information. For example already the archives of the Luftwaffe, precious for historical research (history, statistics, and economic history); the library of Warsaw. Countless of libraries in Rotterdam, Hamburg, Dresden, Coventry and so on. Even some archives of the US army were lost due to improper storage that let the paper rot.