Re: Alternative to Optical Storage????

From	Paul <nospam@needed.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.advocacy, comp.os.linux.misc, alt.os.linux
Subject	Re: Alternative to Optical Storage????
Date	2024-10-05 07:41 -0400
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<vdr8m3$obs2$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	(3 earlier) <vdg79h$2l0ka$1@dont-email.me> <3NmdnUtfTvJIsmP7nZ2dnZfqnPadnZ2d@earthlink.com> <vdmjau$3q93c$2@dont-email.me> <lmidnegRQ_0-_GL7nZ2dnZfqn_adnZ2d@earthlink.com> <cqh1gjdije2kietktbnmdr61kg38ahcer2@4ax.com>

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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On Sat, 10/5/2024 1:01 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Thu, 3 Oct 2024 23:31:46 -0400, "186282@ud0s4.net"
> <186283@ud0s4.net> wrote:
> 
>> On 10/3/24 1:13 PM, Rich wrote:
>>> In comp.os.linux.misc 186282@ud0s4.net <186283@ud0s4.net> wrote:
>>>>    Optical disks - esp M-Disks - can LAST ... but they
>>>>    are LOW-DENSITY by today's defs by a BIG margin.
>>>>    It's also not clear if you'd be able to FIND a
>>>>    DVD reader device 25 years from now. Even most
>>>>    current PCs/laptops don't COME with those anymore.
>>>
>>> Which is exactly the problem.
>>>
>>> Your DVD 'media' might survive 1,000 years.  But if you can't buy a DVD
>>> reader for any price, all that 'media' is useless.
>>>
>>> We've already seen that issue before.  Try to find a Zip disk or
>>> SuperDisk drive.  If any could be purchased, they would all be from
>>> places like eBay and of questionable operational quality.
>>
>>   I actually HAVE a gen-1 ZipDisk - parallel port.
>>   They were supposed to be The Future  :-)
>>
>>   Now nothing even comes with a parallel port.
>>   Does anybody sell a USB->DB25 Parallel ?
> 
> I put all by ZipDisks on CD-R, and have a directory on my current
> computer with them on it as well. 
> 
> I have another computer that still runs, but the monitor died, and i
> was unable to replace it. It had an SCSI connection, which was
> supposed to be the future. Has anyone seen anything with a SCSI port
> recently?
> 
> Computer entropy is real.

It's called SAS now (Serial Attached SCSI).

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Attached_SCSI

The name lives on.

And it is the same progression as IDE. IDE went from a parallel
cable to a serial cable (SATA). SCSI went from a parallel cable
to a serial cable (SAS). Generally, the physical layer on SAS
is more sophisticated (pre-emphasis, line built out, longer cables,
higher amplitude).

One difference might be, that some of the "novelty" SCSI devices
have disappeared. SAS is at least disk drives. But I don't really
know what else you can get.

USB4 will outstrip SAS, but the USB4 will also have a limited
cable length (2.6 feet???).

There is no point of anyone making SCSI parallel controller cards,
like Adaptec, if there are no new disk drives with SCSI parallel
interfaces shipping. Just as there are no IDE drives now.
The largest IDE was 750GB or so. I got my last "spare" IDE DVD from
a surplus shop ten minutes from here (after they stopped making
IDE DVDs).

Where the limitation comes in, is finding a SCSI controller chip
on a PCI Express card. My collection of SCSI cards here are
all PCI. The last machine with a PCI slot is now ten years old.
Two of my other machines had motherboard failures, which has
really "hollowed out" my redundancy plan. I will soon
have nothing current, to use the PCI cards in the junk room.
I have a 2906 to run the old scanner, but the old scanner
needs some repair work now. I don't know if I have the skill
to figure out the root cause. It might be dirty... but I doubt it.

The "rot" is at multiple levels, not just one level.
That's why the "rot" is accelerating. There are fewer things
you can depend on. It would be OK perhaps, if only one
standard took a shit. When two or three take a shit,
now you're talking real money.

   Paul

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Thread

Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2024-10-01 07:04 +0200
  Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Joel <joelcrump@gmail.com> - 2024-10-01 01:08 -0400
  Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2024-10-01 03:10 -0400
    Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net> - 2024-10-03 01:47 -0400
      Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2024-10-03 15:34 +0000
      Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2024-10-03 17:13 +0000
        Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net> - 2024-10-03 23:31 -0400
          Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2024-10-04 02:12 -0400
          Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2024-10-05 07:01 +0200
            Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2024-10-05 07:41 -0400
              Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> - 2024-10-05 21:03 +0000
            Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Lars Poulsen <lars@cleo.beagle-ears.com> - 2024-10-05 20:52 +0000
      Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Nux Vomica <nv@linux.rocks> - 2024-10-03 19:13 +0000
        Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net> - 2024-10-04 00:35 -0400
    Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net> - 2024-10-03 02:28 -0400
      Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2024-10-03 03:10 -0400
        Re: Alternative to Optical Storage???? "186282@ud0s4.net" <186283@ud0s4.net> - 2024-10-04 01:04 -0400

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