What format for long-term storage on external HD?

[WebHead]

I plan to use UDF for Blu-ray backups of some of my most critical data, but I'm wondering what format to use for external HDs? I realise their lifespan is finite anyway, but is there a particular format that will guarantee compatibility in the years ahead?

 

[velocityg4]

Look at drives from the 70s and 80s. A time of little standarization. A hodge podge of connectors, file systems, communication protocols, extinct software, &c. Yet people figure out how to adapt and get information stored off those disks, run them in emulators and so forth.

Everything now is pretty standardized. The connectors, file systems, protocols and such. Compared to the old drives. Modern drives with a modern filesystem will be pretty easy to connect to in fifty years or much longer. You might have to spend a little time searching what adapter to get to plug the drive in and run some emulator. But I expect it'll be pretty trivial to mount an HFS+, APFS, NTFS or exFAT drive in whatever OS is being used.

exFAT probably has the best guarantee of trouble free access in the distant future. Given how universal it is. But really I expect all of the major file systems in use today will be pretty easy to open a long time from now. Given how well they are documented and supported by the open source community.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want long-term storage and you have a bluray burner, have you considered using M-DISC media?

I could be wrong about this (and I welcome correction), but don't BD discs use "non-dye" media (similar to what M-DISC uses)? I seem to recall reading that M-DISCs work on ordinary BD burners that aren't specifically designed to have BD capability. Again, I could be wrong.

M-DISC has a VERY long life expectancy, or so they claim.

Having said that, if I was burning a BD (or even DVD or CD) data disc for long-term storage, I'd probably use (I forget the exact name) the "hybrid" disc format that's supposed to be readable on both Macs and PCs.

 

[ekwipt]

You want to backup on to LTO tape

IBM LTO Tape Drive - Overview

Gain up to 45 TB of compressed data per cartridge with next-generation LTO Ultrium 10 technology.

www.ibm.com

 

[WebHead]

If you want long-term storage and you have a bluray burner, have you considered using M-DISC media?

I could be wrong about this (and I welcome correction), but don't BD discs use "non-dye" media (similar to what M-DISC uses)? I seem to recall reading that M-DISCs work on ordinary BD burners that aren't specifically designed to have BD capability. Again, I could be wrong.

M-DISC has a VERY long life expectancy, or so they claim.

Having said that, if I was burning a BD (or even DVD or CD) data disc for long-term storage, I'd probably use (I forget the exact name) the "hybrid" disc format that's supposed to be readable on both Macs and PCs.

Thanks, yes, most BDs use non-organic dye which is longer-lasting. And M-ONE discs are literally "stone tablets" that don't use a dye at all. But my budget doesn't quite stretch to those, plus I don't need a solution that will last a millennium!

I'm using Japanese-made Panasonic BD-Rs which are apparently the next best thing and should last for decades.

You want to backup on to LTO tape

IBM LTO Tape Drive - Overview

Gain up to 45 TB of compressed data per cartridge with next-generation LTO Ultrium 10 technology.

www.ibm.com

Thanks, will check it out. My instinctive reaction to the word "tape" is "potential for magnetic disruption" but maybe they've found a way to protect against that.