In a message dated 3/31/2005 9:52:52 AM Eastern Standard Time, OHGALLIA-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > I'm not intending for these to be long lasting, however, I do want to be > able to guard against disaster to the best of my ability. I try to keep up > with technology, but my computer doesn't have DVD capabilities, so I use > what I have. I didn't offer the idea as a long term solution to storage, > but as a means of saving something for many years to guard against a > disaster at home, not just fire, but flood, tornado, theft, etc. Linda Tope Trent lindatrent@zoomnet.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I forgot to say that even the computers we use are changing rapidly. I still have 8" floppy disks, 5 1/4 disks with no drives to read them on. Now, my latest computer, a Gateway, has no floppy disk drive at all. I think Linda is right when she says she is not intending for her disks to be long lasting. They won't be!! Cheryl says she is going to use jump drives and maybe they will be OK but again no one has tested them for longevity. Then you have the problem that they plug into USB ports. How long will it be before they move to a different port and USB will no longer be available? My first computer was a Commodore 64 and of course it is no longer available so if I had not transferred my information on the Commodore disks to IBM disks, I would have lost it. So, Marty is right that we need to also print our records out on archival paper and ink and then store them in a safe place. We can also make numerous copies now that digital copying makes a copy identical to the original. (copy machines are analog not digital) Give copies to all your relatives and maybe some will survive. In the meantime make good disk copies but rerecord them in 5 years to be sure there is a machine still able to read them. Also if they are made on high quality disks and kept safely they should be good for the 5 years. Tom Powell