Which format is best for long-term storage?

[eschwartz]

I predict that will be even more impossible in 100 years than it is now -- because we will have AIs that do it for s, so it doesn't matter.

[Timoleon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A good compromise would be plain text files with some sort of additional "markup" to provide additional information. We could call it something like "hypertext markup language" .

Perhaps even something like "rich text format"!

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I predict that will be even more impossible in 100 years than it is now -- because we will have AIs that do it for s, so it doesn't matter.

Well I have artificial intelligence now and have been hoping that within 100 years I will have gained some actual intelligence .

[Rps]

In another life I was a Risk Analyst, which required me to think about knowledge management. This was well before the cloud. If we store all our books in the cloud does it really matter about format or even device ... Won't the data services which hold our materials take care of that for us?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rps

If we store all our books in the cloud does it really matter about format or even device ... Won't the data services which hold our materials take care of that for us?

No. Cloud storage is just a disk that's accessed over the Internet rather than being attached to your computer. You still need to be concerned about what format you're storing data in.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rps

In another life I was a Risk Analyst, which required me to think about knowledge management. This was well before the cloud. If we store all our books in the cloud does it really matter about format or even device ... Won't the data services which hold our materials take care of that for us?

*Poof*

And then, DropBox is gone, for whatever reason.

Think of all the people who thought their data would be safe at the MegaUpload file locker because *they* (those people) were not doing anything wrong.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

*Poof*

And then, DropBox is gone, for whatever reason.

Think of all the people who thought their data would be safe at the MegaUpload file locker because *they* (those people) were not doing anything wrong.

A "free" cloud storage service is worth exactly what you pay for it. It's a convenient service for accessing your data remotely. It is NOT a good backup solution. If you want data security, you pay for it. The company I work for provides triple-redundant, guaranteed-secure, Cloud storage for large corporate clients. It sure as heck isn't a free service .

[ApK]

Paying is no guarentee either. Courts are filled with people trying to get made whole from companies they paid. I think cloud storage had better be just one of several locations for data you care about.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

Paying is no guarentee either. Courts are filled with people trying to get made whole from companies they paid. I think cloud storage had better be just one of several locations for data you care about.

It isn't a guarantee, but you can sleep more easily at night if you store your data with a company which specialises in secure data storage, and has a decades long reputation in the field, than with a service like Dropbox. But yes, you are of course absolutely right. You shouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket.

Most large companies use a multi-tier storage approach: mirrored or RAID 5 disks as the first level, disk backups as second level, tape backups as third level, and Cloud as fourth level storage.

[Jack Tingle]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A good compromise would be plain text files with some sort of additional "markup" to provide additional information. We could call it something like "hypertext markup language" .

No, we'd probably call it "Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML)". Priority of discover, eh, what?

Actually, IIRC, fb2 was designed for this kind stuff.

Regards,
Jack Tingle

[Aanya]

I will suggest ePUB for the best.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It isn't a guarantee, but you can sleep more easily at night if you store your data with a company which specialises in secure data storage, and has a decades long reputation in the field, than with a service like Dropbox. But yes, you are of course absolutely right. You shouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket.

Very true. Neither Dropbox or Box are profitable. And here's another one looking for a buyer.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101911032

[GERGE]

The purpose of the cloud storage is not long term storage and backup (keep enterprise solutions out of this discussion, they aren't really relevant). The purpose of the cloud storage is syncing your files so you can reach them with a phone, tablet and (with the use of a two-step authentication system) other computers. The main role they have in data protection is that if you lose your data, you can sync them to your local storage easily. That is why it is important to use a big name like OneDrive or Google Drive. They have two-step authentication and it is virtually impossible that they will vanish overnight.

They are perfect solutions for ePub storage if you also have files on your personal computer. If something happens to your drive, just resync them next day to a new drive.

Cloud storage is just a failsafe for local storage, but that is more then enough for protecting your data.

For important files, in addition to this system, I also use Runbox. Secure, not much space but then I only keep most important files there, like one time passwords, important receipts, FileVault keys...

[Nova5]

I run my own cloud. The "Cloud" is nothing more than files hosted on a server, accessible from anywhere anytime. My house server with vpn access provides this. Backup system is a server at my fathers house. Mine provides his backup. Both are offsite from each other.

[Tarana]

Both are offsite from each other.

Helps if there is considerable distance between you and the offsite. Floods, hurricanes and earthquakes often affect a large area. Tornados, not so much. I'm the keeper of the elibrary and store the backup at my sister's, 100 miles away. We should also be concerned about more likely issues of fire, theft or hard drive failure, issues that have affected my extended family all in the last year.

I agree that the loss of italics is a problem in some novels. You could fix that by using an asterisk on each side of the italicized words. That's what they did before RTF was available.

I see the Cloud as a good option for CURRENT use rather than a backup. I really don't have enough of a handle on it to exploit it though. I have no problem with Dropbox on computers, but can't seem to get it to work right on devices like tablets or Itouch. If anybody knows of a step-by-step Dropbox for dummies, I'd like a link please.