Help: preserving my music. AFP?

Subject: preserving my music. AFP?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jun 02 - 08:03 PM

I have scads of music stored on my computer (NWC and MID files.) Now a friend tells me that floppy disks don't last very long, and so someday my computer might crash and I would lose all the music.

I have heard rumors that there are services on the Internet that would archive my files. AFP, I think. There is also talk about having a friend with a CD burner make me a CD.

Would someone please tell me exactly how to go about these two processes?

Subject: RE: Help: preserving my music. AFP?
From: Terry K
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 03:01 AM

You can buy (borrow? steal?) a cable to link two PCs together. Connect to a friend's machine and transfer all your music files into one folder - I think Windows has the necessary software already. Then your friend makes a CD and hey presto, you've done it. If you don't have a suitable friend, any small computer shop will do it for you - only you can decide whether the price would be worth it, but that way you wouldn't need to buy the cable.

This is a pretty weak response, I know, but nobody else had answered, which seems a shame. I'm sure someone else will be able to advise you better!

cheers, Terry

Subject: RE: Help: preserving my music. AFP?
From: Bullfrog Jones
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 05:02 AM

C.D.s burnt on home computers are turning out to have a much shorter shelf life than anticipated. Basically the laser has to be so weak for safety reasons that the recordable medium has to be pretty unstable in the first place to allow the recording to happen. This makes it much more susceptible to sunlight, scratches and marks, usage and old age. Even copies of my band's first C.D. that were cut at the recording studio started to deteriorate after 3 years. The other part of the problem of course is that demand for recordable C.D.s has brought prices and quality plummeting. If you do decide to go this route, buy the best-quality C.D.s that you can afford.
BJ

Subject: RE: Help: preserving my music. AFP?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 10:30 AM

If you put your music in one of those "web storage lockers", it's always under someone else's control. Burning cd's is a good answer, if you want to re-make them every year or so. One friend of mine bought a large hard drive, about 40 G for about us$150 at the time, mounted the drive as a slave, and used it as a storage depot. In terms of longevity, digital audio tape is probably the best answer but not many people have the equipment, so let's not go there.

Subject: RE: Help: preserving my music. AFP?
From: MMario
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 11:38 AM

how MUCH data do you have leenia? floppies don't last forever, but if you routinely back up your data and rotate sets of backup floppies they should be okay - I have over 1200 Noteworthy files on my current hard drive - buyt they take up barely two megs. I could back them up on two floppies.

I do back up occasionaly to CD - but that's just becuase I am lazy and don't want to have to sort, etc.

Subject: RE: Help: preserving my music. AFP?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 09:55 PM

I don't know how many mgs it is, but it's about 500 short songs. Early music and folk music mostly.

I think that the idea of keeping it on floppies and simply renewing the floppies is the most workable. I don't have to make any special trips to do it.

Thanks for the insights. That was interesting about how the homemade CD's are inferior to commercial ones. Makes sense.

By the way, a friend who is in the computer business has suggested a second hard drive, and I have had a quote of $89 (US) for the parts. She would do the labor. Sounds extreme, though.