Which format is best for long-term storage?

[tompe]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Excellent idea. Excuse me while I write all my important info to stone.

In what format?

There seems to be a confusion here between format and media. The physical media always have to be updated. But the format used probably do not need to be updated if it is chosen well.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Stone tablets are pretty good. A proven track record of 5000+ years of data retention.

Aren't surviving stone tablets more the exceptions than the rule? I'd have thought most stone tablets have been eroded, smashed or ground to dust at this point.

Hence the reason we couldn't just melt the Nazi's faces.

[Tarana]

Stone tablets are pretty good. A proven track record of 5000+ years of data retention.

True Harry, but most external drives today won't bust your foot when you drop them. In addition, your sister is actually willing to take the extra copy since it fits anywhere vs. stone tablets.

[Nova5]

LIT is Calibre's preferred master format.

[klmmc13]

OK then....
So in a PERFECT WORLD my best option would be to format each book in txt, mobi, epub, AND lit.... Store them on Solid State media (no moving parts), preferably double or triple copies.

But since I don't live in a perfect world, and Money IS a factor, The winner will be txt and epub copies (and the PDF original if there is one) on my backup 1Tera drive and 3 sets of DVD's from different manufacturers so that hopefully one of the sets will survive longer than the first time my 12 year old drops them.

Thanks Everyone for your input, even tho some of you lost me in the particulars....

And BTW - I'm just "an appliance user" as my HamRadio instructor called some of us... I know how to turn it on, call up my software, and do the basics. I don't know about Umbutu, Linux, MacApple. or any of the rest of the bunch. I learned to program Fortran, RPGII, and COBOL with punch cards in climate-controlled rooms on computers that had less processing power than my e-reader. the interior workings no longer interest me... It changes faster than the seasons.

Kathy the MamaDragon

[HarryT]

Kathy - approximately how many ebooks do you have in your library?

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Nova5

LIT is Calibre's preferred master format.

Where do you get that from? It's the easiest to convert from to other formats while maintaining markup, but it's hardly the best to store your books in. A lot of Calibre's functions only work on EPUB and AZW3.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Why does your mother need to build python2 for linux? And if she were using linux, wouldn't she know this stuff?

Who says anything about Linux?

I was talking about Windows incarnations.

Python2 is deemed legacy since 3.0 came out, and they are not compatible. At some point, support for Python2 (I.e. Keeping it running on newer systems) will cease. I hope Calibre will has been ported to Python3 by that time.

So, Python 2 is now legacy. So, in the future, some windows incarnations might not support it anymore.

You mean they will strip the compiled binaries from the repos and stuff. You will still be able to build it yourself, and standalone binaries which bundle python2 with all dependencies (few) will continue to work.

So, you'll have to build it yourself.

And my question would be, how would I be able to explain to my mother to build it herself so she can continue to work with it?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Nova5

LIT is Calibre's preferred master format.

Where on Earth do you get that from? If LIT is the "preferred format", would you be kind enough to explain why it is that so many of Calibre's features will only work with ePub or AZW3 formats?

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Where on Earth do you get that from? If LIT is the "preferred format", would you be kind enough to explain why it is that so many of Calibre's features will only work with ePub or AZW3 formats?

What Katsunami says. It's the preferred input format for conversion, according to the docs.

Whether that makes it the 'preferred format' in general is indeed doubtful.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by mbovenka

What Katsunami says. It's the preferred input format for conversion, according to the docs.

Whether that makes it the 'preferred format' in general is indeed doubtful.

That's completely different to saying it's the "preferred master format". LIT doesn't have many of the features that ePub and AZW3 do, so those features will be lost if you store your books in LIT format.

[Tarana]

At the risk of hijacking this thread, what features does AZW3 and
kF8 have that mobi does not?

Oh, and yes, I use the Calibre editor, although I'm still a neophyte. I see that they recently added AZW3 in addition to the original epub.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Tarana

At the risk of hijacking this thread, what features does AZW3 and
kF8 have that mobi does not?

Note that KF8 and AZW3 are the same thing.

Many additional features, such as embedded fonts, drop caps, proper blockquotes, more sophisticated table formatting, scalable vector graphics. All sorts of stuff. Better ask in the "Workshop" forum if you want to know more.

[eschwartz]

KF8 (.azw3) supports basically anything that EPUB does. Since it is essentially EPUB but wrapped in a mobipocket database instead of a ZIP container, it retains a lot more formatting source code, too -- you'll notice in MOBI-to-EPUB conversions a lot of really messy html including heavy use of spans.

This is because MOBI does not support CSS at all, although a limited subset can be translated into plain HTML.

[klmmc13]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Kathy - approximately how many ebooks do you have in your library?

I'm in the middle of going thru my files to answer that very question.

Hmmm- If I combine all the libraries (I have them sorted somewhat), and all the formats, I've got somewhere between 100 and 250 Gigabytes of files, not to mention ISO/DVD copies of the entire PG library as of January 2011.

That's why I asked this question... I need to pare down, toss out what I don't need to keep.

In the books we access regularly I've got between 1500 & 2500 books, mostly digital copies of my 3rd generation paperback shelves. I've got 75% or more of the books Baen publishes (not just the free ones), and a good share of the collected works of the "Masters of Science Fiction" from all the different publishers (If I don't have it, I'm looking for it, or have it on the Xmas list).

Both of our kids are voracious readers, as well as myself, and keeping up with that is a challenge (no library within 1 hour drive from our house).

I'm slowly working on acquiring digital copies of "my personal library" and getting those formatted into a pleasing appearance to the eye, and easy to read on the reader. I imagine I'll have to take a picture of each paper edition, with some identifier to prove that I own it, But truthfully, I don't have enough room in my house to unpack ALL my books. Digital is much easier to store and use.

Kathy the MamaDragon