Member Avatar for Jane Curtis

Currently have relatively small amount of data to archive. Any opinions? Has anyone used M-disc? All suggestions welcome
Want a technology that will still be around in at least 50 years. And one that won't degrade.
Thanks!
Jane

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Good to see you already have printed copies — — and is right that paper is durable. For a practical digital plan that aims to survive 50+ years, treat any single medium as temporary and build a hybrid strategy with scheduled checks and migrations (this is what large archives do as policy). (archives.gov)

M‑Disc is a legitimate archival optical approach: it uses an inorganic, engraved data layer rather than organic dye, and vendors position it as far more stable than standard recordable discs. Writing M‑Discs normally requires an M‑Ready/M‑Disc-capable burner; many vendors say properly written discs are readable by typical drives afterward. That makes M‑Disc a reasonable cold/offline copy, but it isn’t a full substitute for redundancy. (mdisc.com)

A compact workflow for small archives:

  • Keep at least three copies, on two different media, with one copy offsite (3‑2‑1).
  • Use open, well-documented file formats where possible (PDF/A, TIFF, plain text).
  • Create a plain-text manifest for each archive (dates, software used, short description).
  • Record cryptographic checksums and verify them regularly.

Example: create a SHA‑256 checksum on Linux/macOS:

sha256sum myfile > myfile.sha256
# or on macOS
shasum -a 256 myfile > myfile.sha256

The 3‑2‑1 pattern is the simple baseline; scheduled fixity checks and media refresh/format-migration are what keep archives usable long-term. The Library of Congress recommends recording fixities and refreshing media; major archival bodies run audits and plan periodic migrations. (backblaze.com)

Short practical advice: for a few gigabytes, keep (A) your working copy, (B) a local external HDD or SSD, and (C) an offsite cloud or a physically separated M‑Disc (burn with an M‑Ready drive and verify readback before shelving). Label physical discs and keep the manifest file with checksums. Test restores every few years and plan a media migration cycle (inspect/refresh every ~3–10 years, depending on media and institutional guidance). (archives.gov)

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

For now, the reigning king of archive is the printed word. At about 1 million words you can find

I'm unsure what more assurance you want on M-disc after reading what's on the web. http://www.pcworld.com/article/2933478/m-disc-optical-media-reviewed-your-data-good-for-a-thousand-years.html is 20 times the time span you asked for. The problem I see is that you already see the ODD (optical disc drive) is going the way of the floppy.

Member Avatar for Jane Curtis

Thank you, I appreciate your response.
Yes the printed word is excellent, but it has its vulnerabilities, and takes up more space than some possible other ways to go. So, in addition to the printed word, which is done, I would like to back up with some other technology. As you surmised, my concern about the M-disc is it becoming obsolete and therefore a wasted expense.
I am interested in what others have decided to do about this issue.
Jane

Member Avatar for rproffitt

For me, it's evolution. I used punch cards at first (hey, they are still readable.) Then 8 inch floppy, some tapes then 5 1/4, 3.5 and now USB drives, sticks and optical. The neat part about all this is as time moved forward I could for cheap move my old stuff forward.

If the printed word was that vulnerable, it would not have examples that are centuries old.

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