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Cassette tapes
 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-19 18:44 [#02484726]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



Does anyone know how long cassette tapes or other analogue
media last before they start to demagnetize, become
unusable, i saw 30 years on the net is this accurate?


 

offline wavephace from off the chain on 2015-02-19 21:20 [#02484736]
Points: 3098 Status: Lurker



probly depends on the tape material and how it stored etc. i
have some early-mid 80s tapes that sound pretty good and
some early-mid 90s tape that sound prety bad


 

offline Jaser from Castle Greyskull (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-19 21:27 [#02484738]
Points: 2101 Status: Regular



It is the same for cd's. Some of the one's I bought when I
small in the 1980's have started bronzing. There is no
control really. A bit like once you detect a harddrive going
wrong. Make a backup. Tapes in general are pretty stable as
long as not left in the light or heat extremes.


 

offline hedphukkerr from mathbotton (United States) on 2015-02-19 22:22 [#02484744]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular



if im not mistaken tape is considered to be one of the most
stable storage mediums for data (save for an EMF event),
second to acid-free paper, but of course that depends on the
kind of tape used.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-19 22:41 [#02484745]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



cheers for the replies, yes ive had cd rot on very early
cdrs, was the organic dye they used in them reacting with
sunlight i think. The reason i was asking was twofold.
firstly i have some stuff on casette i made 15 year ago so i
might try and salvage it, and also i was listening to the
afx soundcloud stuff and wondering if there is ever going to
be an effort to conserve excellent music for future
posterity, i suppose Richard hasn't given it much though as
he probably thinks its a bit wank. One of his kids could
start recording fart noises over them or pass them infront
of a magnet. Also look at buzz caner bet he has tons of
stuff, needs to be preserved.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-20 00:33 [#02484748]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



Also was wondering what media everyone uses, its probably
been asked before, anyone have any preferences and why so?


 

offline obara from Aalsmeer on 2015-02-20 00:48 [#02484749]
Points: 19325 Status: Regular



I double-cloud anything I like or cherish. Don't trust
physical media really, external hdds etc. I had over 500 gb
of fav music and BOOM - ext hdd not responsible overnight. I
think some decent ext hdd or two plus cloud is enough.
Depending on how rare/hard to find the stuff you archive is,
too.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-20 00:57 [#02484751]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



yeah its less faffing around thats for sure, i don't want to
pay over the odds for some obsolete technology, i should
probably just get a better sound card, ive had a bit of bad
luck with falling hd's got a stack of them my brother lent
me a rite blocker to access them and found like 50 tracks i
forgot id done, dont have the cash for a raid configuration
or anything so will just have to back up when i can


 

offline hedphukkerr from mathbotton (United States) on 2015-02-20 01:36 [#02484753]
Points: 8833 Status: Regular



i believe in the three-pronged approach to data. for
anything sensitive or essential, you should always have
three copies:

original - local backup - off site backup

that means you should have a local hdd that you backup to
weekly for random retrieval needs, but you also have off
site persistent backup in case of catastrophic data loss.

for off site backup, i hugely recommend crashplan - you set
it up once and, data gods willing, you'll never have to
think about it again. only $80/year or even less if you get
2+ friends together and all go in on the family plan.

as for physical media, i'm too young to have every recorded
anything to tape that didn't almost immediately get recorded
back into my computer, but yeah, getting a solid DAC and
starting to transfer to hi-res digital (24 bit flac) would
be a good idea if you want to preserve that stuff as is.


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-20 02:56 [#02484754]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



yes at the moment i have a drop box account and i share
vital stuff with my best mate so i always have at least one
copy, i think the real link in the chain is myself being
lazy, with hard drives being so vast and generating so much
data you find yourself kind of wishing it was simpler,
sometimes i have to plug in different drives and do a 10
minute keyword search as there is that many folders ive
forgotten where i stored stuff, and then half the time i
find its a anachronistic file format and i have to update
drivers or whatnot


 

offline obara from Aalsmeer on 2015-02-21 10:45 [#02484814]
Points: 19325 Status: Regular | Followup to Hyperflake: #02484754



also try mega co nz if you haven't - they give much more for
free than dropbox or box.com - works fine on android phones
too


 

offline Hyperflake from Wirral (United Kingdom) on 2015-02-21 14:26 [#02484823]
Points: 30733 Status: Lurker



^ cheers seen others using that site wondered what it was


 

offline jnasato from 777gogogo (Japan) on 2015-02-25 02:16 [#02484976]
Points: 3393 Status: Regular | Show recordbag



This thread reminds me that I gotta listen to my Ultraman
soundtrack cassette tape that I've had since I was 4 or so,
and also my Kris Kross album.

I used to record random shit onto tape when I was sub-10,
but I think all of that has been lost. BUT I still have
some tapes from that era, just gotta scan through many
minutes of empty hissing to maybe find a jewel...

OH FUCK! That's what it was-- I still have my Walkman from
1993, but the tape part is broken cuz I took it apart and
put it back together, missing some springs or something. So
I have to buy a tape player... *remember*

Thanks for the reminder. Godspeed, analog warriors.


 

offline obara from Aalsmeer on 2015-02-26 15:46 [#02485048]
Points: 19325 Status: Regular



^ yeah....taping is good. if I knew....I'd get tape recorder
back around '93...to record all the rehearsals of school
bands ...and my bands....and anything. would be huge sample
source later when I got into making electronics, at least!


 

offline Mr Dictionary on 2015-02-26 15:52 [#02485050]
Points: 77 Status: Lurker



i had a 4 track that stopped working so i digitized side A
forward side B backwards and edited them together. they were
all 20 minute high school jamz that i edited down to 2:30
for kicks. i'm not even sure where those digital files are,
but i do still have the tapes.


 

offline earthleakage from tell the world you're winning on 2015-02-26 17:00 [#02485058]
Points: 27764 Status: Regular



last year i managed to get some old games to load on my
ti99/4a from an old basf 90 tape that dates back to 1982,
games i typed in from magazines.

it's a pretty versatile medium.


 


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