Those of you out there manually backing up using CDs and DVDs to protect all your previous files are in for some bad news. Having spent a lot of time and energy backing up, imagine how frustrated you would be to discover years down the line the data you 'protected' by backing up has been lost due to the deterioration of its disc.
After testing the longevity of portable media, results showed discs designed to last for centuries rarely lasted longer then five to ten years, and in some extreme cases merely a year! Additionally, the results revealed the life span of a disc can be artificially aged by heat, water and light, increasing its vulnerability.
This is potentially a big issue for both consumers and businesses. Jerome Duc-Mauge, an executive producer of documentary films, is not fully confident in manual backup.
"This is a big drama, this issue of how long these pictures will last. We don't know. The manufacturer says to us, 'Yeah, five years, 10 years, 15 years'."
The question is which would you choose for your 'digital life' insurance? A time-consuming process with a short life span? Or online backup, which automates the process and ensures you can always backup an unlimited amount of data that can not be lost to theft, fire or father time.
If you're reading this, you're most likely already a Carbonite subscriber. But if you're also using CDs and DVDs to backup, make sure you’re double backed up and, as the researchers suggest, you're "spreading digital data rather than keeping it all archived in one place."
-Alison