The music industry faces a significant data preservation crisis as hard drives, once hailed as a reliable storage solution, are proving increasingly unreliable. According to Iron Mountain, a leading information management company, nearly one-fifth of hard drives received for service from the media industry are completely dead. This means that valuable studio masters, live sessions, and other irreplaceable recordings could be lost forever if not backed up to additional storage.
The shift from tape storage to hard drives began in the early 2000s, driven by advancements like 5.1 Surround Sound and Guitar Hero. However, the industry soon discovered that even seemingly pristine tapes were deteriorating and becoming unplayable. This experience prompted a focus on migrating tape archives to digital media like hard drives.
Unfortunately, hard drives are not immune to decay. Most commercial drives are designed to last only three to five years,even under optimal storage conditions. The limited lifespan of hard drives, coupled with the fact that studios often only access their archives for commercial purposes, increases the risk of data loss.
To address this pressing issue, researchers are exploring more durable archival storage media. Recent advancements include archival glass storage, which is claimed to have a lifespan of up to 5,000 years. Until these alternative solutions become widely available and affordable, the best way to safeguard data archives is to regularly rewrite them to newer media and maintain backups every three to five years.
