future proof file encryption

[Mark H. Wood]

Staggering off-topic a bit, this also points out that, for a variety
of reasons, if you want to store data for the long term, you need to
establish a periodic review of every single item in your archive.

You need to be aware of obsolescent medium types and file formats and
suchlike, and recode at-risk items using then-current best practice.

You need to be aware of media volumes that are degrading, and copy
at-risk items to fresh volumes before they become unrecoverable.  You
should copy older volumes from time to time anyway, at intervals
appropriate to the medium, to evade trouble before it starts.  This is
a good opportunity to switch to a newer medium if there is one you like.

You also need to archive things you might need to recover your items.
File format documentation, useful software, and the like.

If you do all that, your archive should be usable in toto for hundreds
of years, which is probably longer than you need.  Much of it can be
automated, requiring your attention only briefly.

Or you can stash it all in an old shoebox, like the rest of us do. :-/

-- 
Mark H. Wood, Lead System Programmer   mwood at IUPUI.Edu
Friends don't let friends publish revisable-form documents.
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