In a recent study, it has been found that roughly 20% of old hard drives from the 90s, particularly those used for music storage, have failed. This critical issue has raised alarms for both music lovers and industry professionals about the fragility of digital archival methods.
Iron Mountain, a company specializing in enterprise information management, has shed light on the situation. “It’s quite disheartening to see a project brought to our studio, a hard drive in pristine condition on the outside yet completely dead inside,” remarked Robert Koszela, Global Director for Strategic Initiatives & Growth at Iron Mountain. “Right next to it is a backup drive, also a brick.” This encapsulates the dire state of many archival projects that thought hard drives would offer more permanence than physical tape storage, which they previously relied on.
The transition from physical tape to digital storage via hard drives became prominent in the early 2000s, driven by the necessity to remaster and digitally archive music. However, similar to their tape predecessors, hard drives are susceptible to deterioration. Most commercial hard drives have a lifespan of just three to five years, even under optimal storage conditions.
“Studios often don’t access their archives unless there is a commercial need for original masters,” explains Tom’s Hardware. This practice can be alarming because if a significant period lapses, it might be too late to salvage the recordings stored on these deteriorating drives, leading to irreplaceable data loss.
So, what’s the solution? Microsoft has been proactive in developing new archival methods. Project Silica, a cutting-edge initiative, entails storing data in quartz glass slabs. This technology involves encoding data via polarization-based patterns within the glass, offering a potentially more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to magnetic tapes, especially for cloud-scale archives.
Meanwhile, backups continue to be crucial. Until innovations like Microsoft’s glass platter backups become mainstream and affordable, it is recommended to replace music storage hard drives every three to five years to prevent data loss. Regular backups and updating storage mediums are essential to avoid the tragic loss of precious recordings. A mere oversight can lead to the destruction of invaluable music archives, much like what happened during the Universal Studios fire.
The music industry must heed these warnings and adopt more reliable and sustainable storage solutions to preserve our musical heritage for future generations.