Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/15

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Subject: [Leica] (SPAM: ?) RE: (SPAM: ?) Re: So much for "film is forever"..
From: tmanley at gmail.com (Tina Manley)
Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 13:53:58 -0400
References: <814A9936-C401-45C9-8512-012348487329@aotera.org> <D17AFA9F.3A4AF%mark@rabinergroup.com> <00c101d08f2d$97e8efb0$c7bacf10$@gmail.com>

I have lots of CDs with photos saved as STN and have never found a way to
open them.  Luckily, I have the same files in other formats.

Tina

On Fri, May 15, 2015 at 12:38 PM, Piers Hemy <piers.hemy at gmail.com> wrote:

> You want examples?
>
> I'll give you two from direct personal experience - they may not be what
> you thought you were asking for, but they make the same point.
>
> 1) All files I saved in .STN format. Did you say "What the dickens is
> that?" -it's the format used by Genuine Fractals, which I am sure you
> remember, now subsumed into OnOne Perfect Resize, currently at v9. To quote
> OnOne "The only way to open STiNG files is via Adobe Photoshop if Perfect
> Resize 7.5 or earlier is installed". Doesn't matter if the bits are
> corrupted or not, the format has been abandoned.
>
> 2) All files I backed up to a so-called online backup system nearly 20
> years ago. They went through two acquisitions, and the new proprietors felt
> there was better business to be done elsewhere. Service was simply
> terminated, as if they had gone out of business (they may yet do so, of
> course). Doesn't matter if the bits are corrupted or not, again.
>
> And a third of which I have no personal experience, simply technical press
> articles this week. Look out if you use SSDs for backup, as 1s magically
> can become 0s, as Spencer rightly says. You have to keep 'em cool.
>
> Piers
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+piers.hemy=gmail.com at leica-users.org] On
> Behalf Of Mark Rabiner
> Sent: 15 May 2015 06:22
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: [Leica] (SPAM: ?) Re: So much for "film is forever"..
> Importance: Low
>
> I think the fact that while most of us have switched to digital our body of
> work is now (roughly since the year 2000) is in danger is very on topic as
> I
> think its big news where can I sell my digital bodies and re buy back my
> film ones?!?
>
> I'd like to hear a roll count on the LUG of people whose old digital files
> have given up on them or have gotten all wonky. Other side known as digital
> fading.
> I'm being told by you that my digital files are deteriorating I JUST CAN
> SEE
> IT.!!
>
> I don't think when you back up digitally to do it redundantly is the end of
> the world. I used to back up my whole hard disk with floppies. A stack of
> them many inches thick. And I had several sets of them in case one of them
> was bad and for other reasons. It was an automatic process but doable.
> Now its just copying one hard disk to another sometimes a slightly bigger
> one. Can be done in ones sleep.
>
>
> On 5/14/15 7:16 PM, "Spencer Cheng" <spencer at aotera.org> wrote:
>
> > We are going way off topic here so this is my last comment. I did not say
> to
> > store your digital media using microfiche.
> >
> > I am aware of a group of digital archivist (including someone from NIST)
> > working on how to preserve digital media in a standardized fashion.
> >
> > Best practice digital media preservation currently require regular active
> > copying and indefinite transcription of digital media to protect again
> > deterioration of storage media and format obsolescence.
> >
> > If you are not doing both, your stored media is likely to stay ephemeral
> > despite of what you believe.
> >
> > Mark, do as you wish but 1?s magically becomes 0?s in digital media
> whether
> > you believe it?s going to happen or not. Good Luck.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Spencer
> >
> >> On May 14, 2015, at 16:17, Mark Rabiner <mark at rabinergroup.com> 
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> From the Library of Congress  (USA)
> >> "Does the Library of Congress recommend microfilming or digitization for
> >> reformatting institutional collections?....
> >>
> >> " That said, the end of microfilming is near, despite it's relatively
> low
> >> cost and the several hundred year projected lifetime of preservation
> film.
> >> The National Endowment for the Humanities no longer funds grants for
> >> microfilming and microfilm readers are increasingly difficult to
> maintain
> >> and service."
> >>
> >> http://www.loc.gov/preservation/about/faqs/reformatting.html#prescopy
> >>
> >> Recognizing Digitization as a Preservation Reformatting Method
> >> http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/links/pdf/preserving/8_34a.pdf
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 5/14/15 1:17 AM, "Spencer Cheng" <spencer at aotera.org> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Canadian Archive uses microfiche which are stable for 100+ years (or
> >>> acid-free
> >>> paper for documents). The Canadian census was stored that way. ?was?
> because
> >>> I
> >>> am not sure we have a real census any more.
> >>
> >> Digital storage is very
> >>> ephemeral. I doubt if most digital storage will last more than 10
> years.
> >>> Those
> >>> 1?s randomly change to 0?s far too frequently. I don?t think
> archivist like
> >>> digital media very much.
> >>>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Spencer
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica
> >>> Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more
> >>> information
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Mark William Rabiner
> >> Photographer
> >> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Leica Users Group.
> >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
>
> --
> Mark William Rabiner
> Photographer
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information


In reply to: Message from spencer at aotera.org (Spencer Cheng) ([Leica] So much for "film is forever"..)
Message from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] (SPAM: ?) Re: So much for "film is forever"..)
Message from piers.hemy at gmail.com (Piers Hemy) ([Leica] (SPAM: ?) RE: (SPAM: ?) Re: So much for "film is forever"..)