Jack_O'neill Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Was the guy who gave them to you wearing a long, grey beard going by the name of Moses? Maybe it was two tablets? Or Bernoulli cartridges maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobDraw Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 LOL. I have to be careful with what I say around here. I just might get what I don't want. Thanks anyway to both of you. Any chance of that "just in case" senario coming up has probably passed a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 LOL. I have to be careful with what I say around here. I just might get what I don't want. Thanks anyway to both of you. Any chance of that "just in case" senario coming up has probably passed a long time ago. My old boss at the dinosaur had a drawing table in his office, and on the wall behind it was a t-square, couple of triangles, and an assortment of shape and letter templates, as well as an eraser shield all neatly arranged. I made the comment one day that I liked the way he'd decorated his office, and he said "those are not decorations. I keep those handy, just in case!" I couldn't resist and had to say it..."just in case you actually have to draw something?" He looked at me for a minute and I busted out laughing, and so did he. This fine gentleman had taught manual drafting at a university many many years ago and was quite an artist at it. I've seen some of his work, and was thoroughly impressed. He confessed one day privately that he hated cad not because of what it was, but because it allowed people to screw up at a terrifying speed. I seriously believe he could have sold manual drawings as works of art. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irneb Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Yep, CD's aren't always the "best" way for archiving. Especially if your files are huge and many! The 2-5 year thing is only a worst case scenario, if you keep your CD's in a cool dark place they may last for several years more. Of course scratches on the top of the CD will damage them beyond repair, the bottom isn't too bad as it can be polished off. DVD's are supposed to last a bit longer (I think the quote was something like 5-10 years), and "apparently" BlueRays are even more "robust" than that. As for magnetic discs, they do tend to loose their polarization over time. If you've got a HDD (or floppy/stiffy) which has never been used in some years, chances are it's lost some data through this "washing out" of the polarization of the ferrous material on it. As long as you copy the data off and write it back on again every couple of years or so you should be fine - unless there's some bad spots on these discs (similar to scratches on CDs). The Raid# idea helps in that you have several copies of the same file. It's not an answer to all situations though, e.g. if a file gets corrupted by ACad crashing during a save you'll have to act quickly before the corruption is propagated to all the discs in the Raid (a near impossible task). Also if you've not edited the file in years and the NAS hasn't moved it around (e.g. rearranging to avoid fragmentation) you might also get this "washing out" effect. As for flash discs, SD cards and SSD's (and other similar non-mechanical storage) they have an even worse "washing out" effect. So I'd never use them for any form of "backup" which I want to get at a few years later. Some advocate to rather still use DAT tapes. Though they have a similar "washing out" problem, they tend to be overwritten entirely every time you do a backup, so this effect is only visible if you last used the tape a decade ago. Also they tend to have a lot more storage space than CDs. Only they're slow to be accessed since they have to spin all the way to where the file is saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 There are two semi permanent ways to preserve your work. Draw it on a cave wall with ink made from berries and dirt. That will last several thousand years. The other way is to carve it in stone inside a pyramid. Nothing modern man has come up with is nearly as durable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyke Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 There are two semi permanent ways to preserve your work. Draw it on a cave wall with ink made from berries and dirt. That will last several thousand years. The other way is to carve it in stone inside a pyramid. Nothing modern man has come up with is nearly as durable. So that begs the question, what is the safest way to save AutoCAD drawings for as long as possible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think you are mistaken Jack. Do you recall the Golden Record that was put aboard the Voyager space craft? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Disc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irneb Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 So that begs the question, what is the safest way to save AutoCAD drawings for as long as possible?Print them onto VELLUM (lasts a few 100 years) with some sort of non-fading ink, something like a radio-active isotope - those usually have a half-life of millions of years! On the other hand, if you don't want to go and do some Raster->Vector conversion thereafter: Perhaps use some form of barcode writing. Something like those QR codes you get for installing apps onto smart-phones. Of course if you want longer than a few centuries, then you might have to go with engraving onto gold like with the Voyager Disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think you are mistaken Jack. Do you recall the Golden Record that was put aboard the Voyager space craft? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_Disc Yeah, but that's assuming some hot headed Klingon doesn't use it for target practice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Print them on linen. My house plans are 103 years old and other than being a bit darker and a little more rumpled they are still readable. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLW210 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 I think pictures from a Polaroid camera have the longest shelf life. All Polaroid pics of me doing something I shouldn't or looking strange have not deteriorated one bit in the past 40 or so years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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