Once you save your digital content on your computer, mobile device, external hard drive, flash drive, or wherever else you choose, you’ll be able to access it whenever you want to, right? Well, not necessarily. No matter where you store your content that storage device has a limited life expectancy. Some storage devices last longer and are more stable than others, but they will all degrade and/or become obsolete over time. To get a feel for how rapidly media can become obsolete, take a look at the obsolete and endangered storage devices included in the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research’s Chamber of horrors: Digital preservation management tutorial. But beyond becoming obsolete, storage media can also fail due to improper handling and simply because the media itself naturally degrades over time.
Government and Heritage Library Blog, from the State Library of North Carolina
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