this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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I used to think this, but now, less so.
I agree with you in general, as most people don't use physical media. However, those of us that do, are probably pretty secure in our legacy.
I have digital files that have been with me for over a quarter of a century, first through repeated copies to new media formats, then to more sophisticated backup systems. In the past few years, I've been alternating backing up to cloud services and then to local USB disks; the backup program is a statically compiled, monolithic program with few dependencies. Recently, I found a solution to the encrypted restore by survivors. I even have a README with instructions.
I'm secure in the knowledge that my 3TB of painstakingly curated collection of foot porn will be available to future researchers, for the betterment of mankind.
Thank you for your service !
We're in the presence of greatness 🫡
Redundancy. I have 4 drives and the older two drives are always a backup of music and media. I can lose all the save games and softwares since they'll be outdated anyways but memories need to be preserved.
The kind of media I don't have backup of is from my Handycam tapes since they no longer make the software and I don't know how to digitize them in any other way.
Do this if desperate, but see below first: ~~Magnetic tape cassettes? Are they standard? Then just stick them in an audio player and record the signal— Or actually, they're probably 8mm, or DV, or something— So then rip the reader head out of an audio player, scroll through the tape at a constant rate, and digitize that signal (for as many tracks as needed). Don't do anything silly, like using too much force or sticking too strong a magnet next to them, of course. As long as you've got the signal, you can worry about decoding it later if you lose the originals— Get some nerdy college student to figure it out, or wait for someone else with the same problem to post their GIT repository.~~
Easier: Check if the Internet Archive has a copy of the software. It looks like they have quite a few Sony Handycam CDROMs. Maybe you'll find a compatible model. Run it on an old Windows VM or computer if you need. "No longer make the software" sounds odd; Software like that is made once and then distributed.
(Or: Presumably you can still watch the tapes? Does the camera not have video output that you pass through some sort of capture box? — Though that of course would be lossy.)
Or: Wikipedia suggests the "Handycam" brand was used for multiple format standards, like "Video8" or "Hi8" or whatever. So just search Nile.com (or your personal favourite exploitation-powered online storefront) for "NameOfFormat Digitizer", and wait for the order to to arrive. Here's a couple articles from the first search results: IndieWire, VHSConverters. Here's a machine that supports a couple formats, and has licensed a very reputable brand KodakPhotoPlus. And here's a service that will apparently do it for you: LegacyBox. — Pricey, maybe, but how much time and money are you already spending, and how much are the tapes worth to you?
Thanks, i think the archive + vm would work. What I meant was there's no modern software that supports current gen OS.
I'm not in the US so legacy box is out, thanks for sharing. I finally found a way