Holy Crap!
Recently, i picked up a USB2 drive to use as a backup for the laptops. It's probably bigger than i need at about 100GB.
So i decided to do an inventory of the disks storage i have, all totaled: 980GB. Of which, about half is used, and most of that is duplication.
i'll add in that it doesn't include the 520GB of space i have at DreamHost.com, or the various other "unlimited" storage sites i have access to, mostly unused, so i'll say that i use about a fifth of that.
That's 1.5 Terrabytes of storage, total.
Now, consider that my "critical" information is stored in a 2GB TrueCrypt drive that gets backed up about once a month or so. The bulk of the rest of my actual storage requirements are photos (the digital shoebox, since the really good ones wind up getting cross-saved to flickr and DVDs) and music (again, multiple backups). Actual, critical documents are less than 40MB.
The rest is… well… digital landfill.
Granted, i tend to clean stuff up quite a bit, and much like the local final resting place for our consumer lust, what ain't actively used tends to get compressed at tightly as possible and archived, to be destroyed after five years pass.
Considering the various garages that are packed to the gills around here, it does make me wonder what folks are filling up their drives with…
Briefcase wasn't bad, but it was very early and never really grew much, plus (thanks to a bunch of warez kids) way too many restrictions had to be put in place. Times change, and so do storage options.
You're absolutely right that access makes a huge difference. That's one of the reasons I have what I have. Most of my local storage is duplicates on different physical drives. Of course, the problem I still face with that is what happens when stuff gets stolen or the house burns down.
For that there's "off-site" storage. One of those is that 100GB USB drive I mentioned earlier. The other is that 500GB of accumulated site storage. I solve the privacy issue via TrueCrypt, and copy things off.
The problem then becomes, shoving a 3 2GB files through a DSL upload (which can take a while, so I tend to do that only once a month or so.) I probably could solve that problem by building a tarball of the files in my secure drives and running that through pgp before sending it up.
As for the conversation, I agree. That's why I don't mind having them about stuff like this.
(It just helps me tell you when I've posted if I can cc my replies to your real email address *hint*hint*)
Oh, c'mon JR, if you have free hard disk space it means that you havn't downloaded enough pr0n yet :P
1. what happens when stuff gets stolen or the house burns down. Loose of data
2. I solve the privacy issue via TrueCrypt, and copy things off. Data Privacy
3. The problem then becomes, shoving a 3 2GB files through a DSL upload. Data Access
PC is part of everybody's everyday life but yes their are gonna be changes in the way we use the Internet and the above three issue will cease to exist.
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synchronizing time
I was thinking and reading about storage facilities when i saw this post, interesting. Digital storage is here and stays.
I remember yahoo briefcase.
I think online storage is complex and challenging.
1. Its about access. Being able to up it, down it, wherever, whenever and however.
2. Its about management. Privacy, share/rights, duplication, data types categorization, compression n mutation of data, data landfill monetization or deletion and more.
I just re-read your post and well, honestly…i don't remember or use many digital stuff a weak old. Who has the time for the old? n archive is just that, lost, forgotten and finally deleted if that space is required!
1. would rating, tagging or view/access count help automate management of digital storage?
2. will i be auto promoted to not store a song if their are a hundred clones of that song and will i be asked to make a copy when the song access drops to 50?
oh this is an interesting post but two things keep me from writing further
1. its not fun when its not a conversation
2. i dunno how loose i can be here but more i know or don't know about stuff makes it tough to express …………. n an intellectual speech wearing a suit sucks.