I recently had to get a new laptop because my old one was grinding to a halt. My new laptop does not have a CD/ DVD drive. My dad makes CDs of family photos for me, so I had to transfer all the photos from the CDs onto my external hard drive while my old computer was still functional so I could have access to those photos.
My new computer backs up to the cloud, which is convenient, and to an external hard drive so I can have all my photos and files locally too. I don't like having all my stuff in the cloud, just in case something prevents me from accessing it. But the reality is it's not totally safe on a hard drive either. There's the possibility of the disk becoming corrupted, or something happening to it physically. Thus the redundant backups.
Data accessibility is something I think of fairly often. I've lived through floppy disks (large and small), CDs, data sticks, and now the cloud. Similarly, not all that long ago all my photos were taken using film, now they are all digital.
As data storage technology marches on, we lose access to information when we no longer have the right machinery to access it. I have a video tape of my wedding but can't watch it because I don't have a VCR. My thesis is on a floppy disk. Not that I ever plan to read my thesis again, but I couldn't now if I didn't have a paper copy.
As I transferred my family photos from CDs to the external hard drive and then uploaded them to the cloud, I couldn't help but think about the fact that I don't need an interface to access the information housed in my 20 years of Filofax pages on my shelves. I just open the books and read the pages. Data storage technology has moved through several iterations in the past 20 years, and obsolete storage technology leads to inaccessible data. I don't see myself ever moving away from paper planners and journals. I always want to be able to open a book and read what I wrote, however many years ago.
As always on Fridays, feel free to ask and/ or discuss anything ring binder organizer related!
I have the same feeling. Your post gave me the idea of printing some photos monthly and putting them in an album. So I would have at least one physical memory if my cloud photos disappeared.
ReplyDelete