Which is Best Method to Archive Files -keep Files Healthy as long as possible

[Half_feet]

Hello everyone,
Hope you good days..

I want to a method by which i can keep files healthy as long as possible,extend the life time for it.
I haired that with time files become broken ( how much that time?).
so i want a method to save files like for 15 years or more.Is on dvd is ok ?external HDD ?
on Internal HDD(3.5") ? which is the most reliable way?
Do I Keep files as it is ?Compress them to a ZIP or 7z archive ?
Do I need to open these files often to keep them healthy?

I hope you get the point ..
Thanks a lot in advance

 

[th3p00r]

Never have your data (files) on only one backup device, I would recommend on 2 hard drives.
How big are your files? you can put them onto google drive (it gives you 15GB of free storage) and you can pay to get more storage, also dropbox. however, with cloud storage, if a business went out of business you might lost your files.

 

[kanewolf]

First thing, multiple copies. Optical media is pretty good. If you burn and compare every file on 2 or 3 disks you will have the safest data. You could also calculate CRC data for each file on the disk and save that separately. Every couple years, check the CRCs of the files. If you ever get an error, go to a backup copy, verify it and then pull the data and put on new media.

I wouldn't use zip files, because if the zip container gets corrupted, you might not get ANY of the contents. At least with individual file, you might lose one but not all.

 

[Half_feet]

Never have your data (files) on only one backup device, I would recommend on 2 hard drives.
How big are your files? you can put them onto google drive (it gives you 15GB of free storage) and you can pay to get more storage, also dropbox. however, with cloud storage, if a business went out of business you might lost your files.

thank you, but data is too much

 

[Half_feet]

First thing, multiple copies. Optical media is pretty good. If you burn and compare every file on 2 or 3 disks you will have the safest data. You could also calculate CRC data for each file on the disk and save that separately. Every couple years, check the CRCs of the files. If you ever get an error, go to a backup copy, verify it and then pull the data and put on new media.

I wouldn't use zip files, because if the zip container gets corrupted, you might not get ANY of the contents. At least with individual file, you might lose one but not all.

thank you,
I really was thinking almost like that, but I seek for a low coast and long-term method
I think it may the closest way.
excuse , one more question , how to verify files by CRC ( can i use HashMyFiles)

thanks

 

[sam1275tom]

how much that time?
It differs from media to media, but several years would be totally fine unless the media is very low quality.

so i want a method to save files like for 15 years or more.Is on dvd is ok ?external HDD ?
on Internal HDD(3.5") ? which is the most reliable way?
As others mentioned, no way is 100% reliable, you should have multiple copies.

Do I Keep files as it is ?Compress them to a ZIP or 7z archive ?
Both are fine, but you can use "recovery record" function to increase safety.

Do I need to open these files often to keep them healthy?
No, read them will make no difference to their health. With a rewriteable media like HDD, you can copy them and delete the original files every several years, to keep the magnetic field strong; with something like DVD, you cannot do anything.

 

[Half_feet]

how much that time?
It differs from media to media, but several years would be totally fine unless the media is very low quality.

so i want a method to save files like for 15 years or more.Is on dvd is ok ?external HDD ?
on Internal HDD(3.5") ? which is the most reliable way?
As others mentioned, no way is 100% reliable, you should have multiple copies.

Do I Keep files as it is ?Compress them to a ZIP or 7z archive ?
Both are fine, but you can use "recovery record" function to increase safety.

Do I need to open these files often to keep them healthy?
No, read them will make no difference to their health. With a rewriteable media like HDD, you can copy them and delete the original files every several years, to keep the magnetic field strong; with something like DVD, you cannot do anything.

thanks,
I got the Picture now

have good times