Enquiry About Time Capsule

[Lionel Messi]

Hello,

A time capsule will be made end of May by a group of friends and myself and I would like to know the best way to store an audio file (mp3) as well as some pictures (jpg). I don't know how reliable a USB device would be as the time capsule will be opened in 10 years (year 2024) but I would like to know the best way to store audio if USB is not reliable after 10 years of not being used. I do not wish to purchase an expensive device to store this so anything fairly cheap would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Southern Dad]

Why not a cheap MP3 player and a sealed set of new Duracell batteries? Those suckers have expiration dates pretty far off.

 

[Ganesha]

The oldest flash memory device I have is from around (2001-2002) an 8 MB device and it still seems to work. Of course this device was an regular use to about 2005, so it isn't quite a test of 10 years of storage.

I bigger problem might be finding something to plug the drive into. USB-A might seem ubiquitous today, but it may not be the choice of interface even in 10 years. At least on the Mac side Apple has never been shy about removing ports and making users go though hoops to get their non-yet-obsolete hardware connected.

For example, if you in 2004 used an 2004 iMac to burn DVD-R disk for your time capsule, you would need an external bridge device to read it on many currently shipping Macs. Go back 10 more years, you might have used 1.4 MB floppies. Or maybe a ZIP disk and the bright idea to store the ZIP drive in your capsule in case you couldn't buy ZIP drives. No modern Mac comes with a floppy or the SCSI ports needed to drive the ZIP drives of the time.

 

[0007776]

I bigger problem might be finding something to plug the drive into. USB-A might seem ubiquitous today, but it may not be the choice of interface even in 10 years. At least on the Mac side Apple has never been shy about removing ports and making users go though hoops to get their non-yet-obsolete hardware connected.

For example, if you in 2004 used an 2004 iMac to burn DVD-R disk for your time capsule, you would need an external bridge device to read it on many currently shipping Macs. Go back 10 more years, you might have used 1.4 MB floppies. Or maybe a ZIP disk and the bright idea to store the ZIP drive in your capsule in case you couldn't buy ZIP drives. No modern Mac comes with a floppy or the SCSI ports needed to drive the ZIP drives of the time.

I don't see that as being much of an issue. The pace of huge changes like that seems to be slowing, and so far USB has been good at keeping backwards compatibility, and while it is possible that it could be replaced in 10 years they currently are working on improvements to it that will keep it relevant for a long time.

 

[Jessica Lares]

I also have USB drives from around the early 2000's like Ganesha.

I would say go that route. We were at 2.0 in 2000, and we're at 3.0 with machines only starting to come out with it maybe two years back now. Either a 2 or 8GB SanDisk stick will be fine.

USB is not going away. Not everyone is a consumer who just needs to transfer their holiday photos.

 

[Ganesha]

Let me clarify what I meant. I'm sure USB will be around in 10 years. I'm not so sure Apple will be putting USB-A ports on shipping Macs in 10 years having switched over entirely to the reversible USB-C ports. Which means (just like my example of accessing 10 year old archives) you will need an adapter.

 

[Lionel Messi]

I don't see that as being much of an issue. The pace of huge changes like that seems to be slowing, and so far USB has been good at keeping backwards compatibility, and while it is possible that it could be replaced in 10 years they currently are working on improvements to it that will keep it relevant for a long time.

I also have USB drives from around the early 2000's like Ganesha.

I would say go that route. We were at 2.0 in 2000, and we're at 3.0 with machines only starting to come out with it maybe two years back now. Either a 2 or 8GB SanDisk stick will be fine.

USB is not going away. Not everyone is a consumer who just needs to transfer their holiday photos.

The oldest flash memory device I have is from around (2001-2002) an 8 MB device and it still seems to work. Of course this device was an regular use to about 2005, so it isn't quite a test of 10 years of storage.

Thank you all for your answers. I will actually purchase a USB and place the files in there, and will also place a couple of physical pictures of my favourite memories and a hand-written letter as well, just in case the USB doesn't work. I would do anything in 10 years to open up the files and buying an adapter for USB (if need be) won't be a problem, hell, I'd buy a laptop to be able to listen to the 45-minute audio I recorded and have digital versions of the photos. You can't really predict what can happen in 10 years so I just hope USB's still exist, and I'm pretty sure they will as they just might replace HD & SSD since 1TB USB currently exists (for a fortune).

Thanks once again for your help everyone. Really appreciate it!

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Why not a cheap MP3 player and a sealed set of new Duracell batteries? Those suckers have expiration dates pretty far off.

I don't think that's the best idea as electronics like a MP3 might have a shorter shelf life than a USB imo. Plus I'd like to also save a few photos (a hundred or something) for future reference which a MP3 won't be able to fulfil.