Posts: 451
From: Ellicott City, Maryland
Registered: Dec 2005

posted 01-16-2009 03:06 PM               

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Does anyone have their collection in a EZ Storage unit?

My wife is making me put most of my collection of 44 years into a climate controlled EZ Storage unit. We live in an apartment and are out of "space". I have most of it in the Rubbermaid plastic tubs. I am mostly worried about my VHS tapes of the missions, documentaries, and news reports I recorded. The temps in the storage will range from 55-70 degrees.

As for my autographs, patches, flown items and older NASA items, they will not leave this appartment including Brooks Robinson's last game glove, about 100 game worn baseball caps from almost every team when I was with the Orioles and players game bats.

In a way I feel like I'm loosing my collection.

Thanks,
Mike Z

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Registered:

posted 01-16-2009 07:05 PM               

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Join the Club!

A heck of a lot of my collection is now in the loft, and that's not climate controlled; it's been banished there by the wife! And I've had to put 4 more plastic boxes in there this week too! I only have my office and back room at the moment but even that's about to change as she wants more room now.

Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002

Posts: 323
From: Cleveland, OH USA
Registered: Aug 2006

posted 01-22-2009 07:55 PM               

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Hey guys -- I'm a collector too but a woman. Luckily I have a very understanding husband who likes to collect other kinds of collectibles too. But space for space is a growing problem.

--Marcy

P.S. We both love sports collectibles too!

Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-22-2009 11:51 PM               

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I would be more worried about the ability to play those VHS tapes 5 or 10 years from now...

Chris.

Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 01-23-2009 02:54 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by Mike Z:
The temps in the storage will range from 55-70 degrees.

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That is actually a fairly desirable temperature range. However, the question of humidity is probably just as important...if not more important. You want a low humidity environment, if possible.

You may also wish to convert your most important VHS tapes to DVD in the near future. Even if VCR technology is still available for use in 5-10 years, tapes can naturally degrade over time...some faster than others. Not only will you have backed up your tapes onto another media (that is hopefully more stable), you will probably be able to store the discs at home since they take up less space.

Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 01-23-2009 01:28 PM               

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I would suggest storing a copy of your video on an external hard drive in addition to the DVD. We don't know how long the DVD format will continue, but you can bet that at some point, it will become outdated. I can't tell you how many times I have backed up to media that subsequently became outdated and unreadable - 5-1/4" disks, 3-1/2" disks, Zip drives (2 different formats!). [I won't mention my paper tapes and card decks from college, or the cassette tapes for my Apple II+.] Most of these I have had to transfer to a new medium when my latest PC is unable to read the older format. And I'm still coming across old backups that I have completely lost the drives for...just came across 30 3-1/2" disks last week and I have no way to read them now.

The thing that has remained constant is the PC's ability to read a hard drive. Buy yourself a high capacity external hard drive and back up to it regularly. Best Buy has a 500 Gig drive for under $150 which includes automatic file synch and backup software.

Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 01-23-2009 11:39 PM               

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Isn't that the equivalent to putting all your eggs in one basket? Correct me if I'm wrong but CD/DVD do not have mechanical parts and are not subject to magnetic interference, so are they the best option for long-term storage?

Just wondering.

Chris.

Posts: 1522
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006

Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005

posted 01-24-2009 02:02 PM               

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While I agree that hard drive backup is essential as well for valuable items, I would guess that the average hard drive's lifespan is less than the time it takes for most media formats to go obsolete.

The rule of thumb is to backup on both hard drive and on a stable media (such as CD or DVD). If the data is really important, make new backup CDs and DVDs every couple of years...just to be sure. The more copies you retain, the better. (I also maintain two backups hard drives as well, just for added insurance.)

Also, while media such as DVD will likely become obsolete someday, they rarely become obsolete overnight. There is usually enough overlap between old media devices going obsolete and new media devices becoming available. Obviously, if you wait until the drives are no longer available to transfer your data, then you've waited way too long.

Posts: 3118
From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 01-24-2009 08:47 PM            

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I have quite a few VHS cassettes from the early 1980s with "space recordings" which seem to be as good now as they were when they were recorded. I suspect that in about another 25 years, when those cassettes are 50 years old, they will stay play quite well (assuming [1] I am alive to play them [!] and [2] I have a VHS machine to play them on.) I'm not nearly so confident that the 30 year old DVDs onto which I transferred the content of the original VHS cassettes will still be playable.

Analogue fades gradually. Digital either works or it doesn't, and once it stops working, it's GONE.