How stable are SD cards for backup and long-term storage?

[skydiver30960 0]

The title says it all: I'm sick and tired of using CDs to back up iTunes and documents and crap. With SD cards running around $1/gig, this seems like a much more manageable solution.

...that is, as long as I can trust the SD card to hold the memory as stably (did I make up a word?) as a CD.

Waddayathink?

Elvisio "my latest hip-hop hit: back that drive up... uh, yeah... back that drive up" Rodriguez

[BobMoore 0]

I would go with an external hard drive. You can get 1 terabyte hard drives for maybe $100. Smaller gigabyte sized drives are cheaper. That's what I use and it hasn't let me down yet. I have relatively small storage demands and also have a couple large thumb drives so I can have several copies of things I don't want to lose.

add : Sorry, I forgot to include in the message that I have no idea how robust SD cards are.

"For you see, an airplane is an airplane. A landing area is a landing area. But a dropzone... a dropzone is the people."

[billvon 2,403]

NAND FLASH (i.e. what most cards use) have typical retention times of 5-10 years. Some manufacturers are now claiming 100 years but I haven't seen any test data indicating they've achieved that. Obviously there are some problems demonstrating such claims.

[jtval 0]

SD cards are going away.
It would be like putting all your stuff on VHS. I'd go with a few back up drives.

I have 2 backup drives. just in case one crashes (which happened and I ost 8 yrs of memories.) it totally sucks!

My photos

My Videos

[Remster 24]

Quote

NAND FLASH (i.e. what most cards use) have typical retention times of 5-10 years. Some manufacturers are now claiming 100 years but I haven't seen any test data indicating they've achieved that. Obviously there are some problems demonstrating such claims.

And whats the estimate on CDs? About 20 years?

Remster

[BrokenR1 0]

I use a couple HDD's myself and swap them out every couple years. Swapping is partly due to using a newer drive and partly because the drives are getting smaller while holding more and I'm adding more. I have two backup HDD's in addition to my active storage. The only thing I have not been doing is keeping something at an offsite such as a family members house incase of a fire or theft at my place. I have also not encrypted anything in case of theft which I am in the process of changing now.

Found a few links...

http://www.pcmech.com/article/how-long-will-that-media-last/
http://www.pcmech.com/article/how-to-avoid-bit-rot/

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Rap is to music what etch-a-sketch is to art.

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

Quote

NAND FLASH (i.e. what most cards use) have typical retention times of 5-10 years. Some manufacturers are now claiming 100 years but I haven't seen any test data indicating they've achieved that. Obviously there are some problems demonstrating such claims.

And whats the estimate on CDs? About 20 years?

Roughly, some less like around 10 years. There are some archival DVDs that came on the market recently that are claiming much longer life with less data loss, but who knows if they're right.

I typically use multiple hard drives and get new ones every few years, moving the data each time. It may not be the best or the cheapest, but it has worked for the past 15 years or so.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Amazon 7]

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NAND FLASH (i.e. what most cards use) have typical retention times of 5-10 years. Some manufacturers are now claiming 100 years but I haven't seen any test data indicating they've achieved that. Obviously there are some problems demonstrating such claims.

Which media do you think will survive the next CME we will have?

[regulator 0]

Ahh the good ole Coronal Mass Effect...2012 is going to be a very high activity period of enhanced solar activity....my guess is that if we get hit with a big enough CME that electronics simply wont matter. Perhaps there will be a market for huge lead safes...but whos gonna lug one of those things around just to keep their mp3's and porn safe?

[Amazon 7]

Or you can always get a small lead container to put the critical components in.... so you are the only kid on the block with a working... ANYTHING electronic

[skydiver30960 0]

Thanks for the replies everybody. I'll do a little more homework including a longer look at external drives.

Elvisio "thanks again" Rodriguez