71er wrote:My grandparents did not take a lot of care when it came to store their standard 8 films and so didn't my parents. Most of the films are still in a great condition and all of them are watchable. I can see that some of them are shrinking and a few have a colour shift; so my kids can still watch the films but their kids might not be able anymore; but they will not be interested as they don't know the people on the films ... So maybe an archive will be interested to save some footage to show what Ravenna, Italy, looked like in 1957, but for family purposes the life expectancy of film is long enough.
I find it very odd to say to mr_x that he didn't take enough care: come on, his disc is going to be 4 years old now - you shouldn't have to expect that it is already corrupted.
This is one of the most important issues. Joe Ordinary doesn't have the time, inclination, resources or knowledge to constantly keep backing up or carefully preserving his photos/movies/other data. The fact that cine film and photo negatives/slides often do survive is not because people took particular care in storing them, its because the media were/are robust.
Similar to 71er, I inherited my late grandfather's 8mm films in 1993. He'd died some twenty years earlier, and the films had been in my uncle's attic in a box for that time. They'd been subjected to temperature changes with the seasons, humidity changes...though they were probably never subjected to strong light. Some time later, when I spent 18 months in the USA they were moved from the house into a damp, dusty shed. But every one of those films, shot 1964-1972 is nigh on perfect. There are some exhibiting cracks in the emulsion, but they're all intact and project OK.
My dad left a cache of plates and negatives from the 1950's to 2000's. He didn't take much care over storing them, they're in cardboard boxes stashed in drawers or just stashed in cupboards. Some are in their paper/card envelopes but most are loose. But every one of them could be used to make new prints, even if some of those prints would show scratch damage on the neg/plate. The photos would be viewable and easily restored if necessary.
Now look at Mr_x's CD. While it is not necessarily reasonable to assume our media will last 50 years...it is certainly not unreasonable to assume you're going to be able to read it 10 years later.
Joe Ordinary doesn't look at his photos/movies/data frequently. He puts them in a cupboard or something, and gets them out every few years. When he realises on the occasion of Junior's 10th birthday that the photos and movies of his first steps etc. aren't viewable....or that the photos of his wedding are corrupted..he's not going to be pleased...
