encoding into DNA and transforming some long lived critter is the best solution for me. My mind's eye is watering with glee when I imagine how TurtleBank might look -- fields of green grass, populated by herds of gentle grazing turtles, each encoding some priceless tidbit of information.
Of course, worrying about access to USB formatted memory 100 years from now is likely not necessary. We should be able to read these chips directly using a miniaturized form of scanning microscopy or somesuch (probably non-invasive, unlike SEM). Charge-state of a floating gate transistor can be derived by e.g. a properly designed SEM tip right now (this is one of the methods used to steal data from protected flash drives by the way), but i am SURE that in a century the technology to read the state of matter should be advanced to a level of household implementation. Anyway. On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 4:35 PM, Artem Evdokimov <artem.evdoki...@gmail.com>wrote: > Given that it's basically a solid state tiny capacitor, temperature should > indeed be a huge factor :) I am actually considering storing some flash > sticks in a freezer, to see what happens. And in LN2 as well... > > Artem > > On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 4:14 PM, Richard Gillilan <r...@cornell.edu>wrote: > >> I don't think memory sticks have any internal electrolytics or power >> supplies. Both USB and FAT32 are widely documented standards in this era, >> so while they might no longer be supported (FAT32 is already very old), >> information on how to communicate and decode data will still likely be >> available. RS232, for example, is now 50 years old and one can still find >> adapters and software. >> >> Richard >> >> On Dec 12, 2012, at 4:45 PM, Roger Rowlett wrote: >> >> Maybe the memory chips will retain their bits for 100 years, but what >> about the driver hardware or internal power supply? Anyone had an >> electrolytic capacitor last for 100 years? Just sayin... >> >> I like the image of the USB sticks in the -80 freezer, though. :) >> _______________________________________ >> Roger S. Rowlett >> Gordon & Dorothy Kline Professor >> Department of Chemistry >> Colgate University >> 13 Oak Drive >> Hamilton, NY 13346 >> >> tel: (315)-228-7245 >> ofc: (315)-228-7395 >> fax: (315)-228-7935 >> email: rrowl...@colgate.edu >> >> >> On 12/12/2012 4:38 PM, Artem Evdokimov wrote: >> >> Or... (gasp) store a regular USB drive in a freezer, yes? If the >> relationship between data decay rate and temperature indeed follows the >> same good old Arrhenius formula then any old USB drive is virtually endless >> at -80C and safe for human life span at -20 (i.e. kitchen freezer, sans >> defrost cycles (so pack your USB in some ice packs so defrost doesn't kill >> it). >> >> If this works, feel free to send me money, SanDisk... >> >> Artem >> >> On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 3:02 PM, Richard Gillilan <r...@cornell.edu>wrote: >> >>> SanDisk advertises a "Memory Vault" disk for archival storage of photos >>> that they claim will last 100 years. >>> >>> (note: they do have a scheme for estimating lifetime of the memory, >>> Arrhenius Equation ... interesting. Check it out: >>> www.sandisk.com/products/usb/memory-vault/ and click the Chronolock >>> tab.). >>> >>> Has anyone here looked into this or seen similar products? >>> >>> Richard Gillilan >>> MacCHESS >>> >> >> >> >> >
