Best Data Storage

[herme3]

Does anyone have some video game cartridges from some of the NES, Super Nintendo, N64, Genesis, or Game Boy systems? I think that computer companies should find ways to increase their memory capacity, and then use them as storage media. The only problem would be the capacity. I think the largest video game cartridges were 32MB for the N64. If their memory could be increased, they would be much better than floppy disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, or flash memory. This is because I think the cartridges are much more durable.

 

I was reading on a video game forum where people were posting stories about some of the things that have happened to their cartridges. Many people told stories of them going through the washing machine and the dryer. One person said that his fell out of the 5th story of a tall building. Another said that he lived in Alaska, and lost the cartridge outside. The ground was completely covered by snow, so they had to wait months for summer to come before they found it. In all of these stories, the video game cartridges still worked perfectly.

 

I wasn't sure if these stories were true, so I decided to test an old Game Boy cartridge that I rarely play anymore. First, I wanted to make sure it was water-proof. I filled a sink up with water, and let the cartridge sit in there for a few minutes. When I pulled it out, the cartridge was completely full of water. I shook most of the water out of it, and then let it dry for a while. When I put it into my Game Boy to test it, it still worked perfectly.

 

Next, I tested the cartridge's ability to stand the cold. I put it in the freezer for about an hour. When I pulled it out, it had ice on it and I could tell it was frozen. I let it warm up for a little while, and then I put it into my Game Boy to test it. The cartridge still worked perfectly.

 

Finally, I tested its ability to stand the heat. I put it in a pan of water, and actually boiled it on the stove for a while. I had the temperature turned up all the way on "high". After it boiled for a while, the sticker on the front of the cartridge was faded. The outer case of the cartridge was also slightly deformed from the heat. I still put it into my Game Boy to test it. To my amazement, the game still works perfectly!

 

This shows how durable these cartridges are. If you go to a yard sale, you will probably find lots of old video games. The CD-ROMs might be all scratched up, and they normally won't work anymore. However, I can find some old abused cartridges and they usually always work. I have some cartridges made in 1985, and all of them work perfectly. The fact that they can take so much abuse would make them a great way to store important data. Why don't computer companies make them and sell them to the public?

[Klaynos]

One word:

 

Cost

[herme3]

One word:

 

Cost

 

I think the cost would be worth it, considering that you will know that your data should be safe for at least 20 years. It might be even longer than that, but my oldest video game cartridges are only 20 years old.

 

I once worked for a company that was trying to recover data from some floppy disks. The floppy disks were only about 10 years old, but all of the data was corrupt. I tried to recover the data, but nothing worked. The data wasn't extremely important, but I'm not sure what we would have done if it was.

 

Now, some research teams estimate that burned CDs may only last around 20 years. If that's true, cartridges might be the safest place to keep data you will need for a long time. Many companies and individuals would be willing to pay the extra cost if they realize how durable the cartridges are. Do you think you could ever boil a flash memory device?

[bascule]

Uhhh... you do realize that the capacity of Nintendo cartridges is measured in hundreds of kilobytes (or less) right?

[Klaynos]

Even if you think it'd be worth the cost you'd still need to find someone to fund it.

 

Can anyone else say SD card...

[timo]

Stone carvings are still unbeaten in durability of stored data

Does anyone know how long data can be stored on a regular hard disk? They probably won´t endure being put in a washing machine but I´d think that with proper treatment they can store data for quite a while. Plus, you can really store a lot of data on a hard disk. Also, HDs are relatively cheap.

[Broken_Error]

Stone carvings are still unbeaten in durability of stored data

Does anyone know how long data can be stored on a regular hard disk? They probably won´t endure being put in a washing machine but I´d think that with proper treatment they can store data for quite a while. Plus' date=' you can really store a lot of data on a hard disk. Also, HDs are relatively cheap.[/quote']

 

Well, I have an old hard drive that still has it's original windows 95 (I think it was installed in 96) on it and it still works fine.

[Klaynos]

Well, I have an old hard drive that still has it's original windows 95 (I think it was installed in 96) on it and it still works fine.

 

I've lost 2 in the last 12 months, one of which was only 6 months old

[insane_alien]

klay, you tried cooling fans for your hardrives? they can prolong the life of the hard drive if you keep it below average running temperature.

[Klaynos]

klay, you tried cooling fans for your hardrives? they can prolong the life of the hard drive if you keep it below average running temperature.

 

 

This isn't in one computer, but no I havn't the machines they've been in havn't been very warm at all :s

[5614]

Hard drives do actually get quite hot and don't normally come with cooling on them when you buy a computer. But hard drive cooling has become quite popular recently and there are many fans and heatsinks (and combinations) that are available.

 

Some require the HDD to go in the 5.25" CD drive bay. And some fans, like my one, kind of fill up about 2mm of the HDD bay below the one it is on. OK, that's not really clear, this is what I mean:

I've got two hard drive bays in my computer. There's a HDD in the top one. I attach the fan, it is the right size that is also overlaps onto the 2nd (bottom) hard drive bay... this means I cannot place a 2nd HDD where it should be.

 

It's no problem because I just stick the 2nd HDD where the floppy drive was and knocked the floppy drive up to where there's an empty space. Can't have the HDD too far apart as they are both on the same IDE cable.

 

So yeah, that was a fairly pointless post.

 

Get fans for your hard drive. And make sure they fit. And also my one was cheap and a bit noisy, so I've attached a switch to it and either have music on or it off! I'd rather have a quieter one.

 

Oh, and no HDD fan has a very high cfm... but it's ok for the HDD. Go for a quiet one.

 

I'm gonna shut up now... at last!

[reor]

GameBoy™... good old days... Yeah, i'm still amazed of those robust little thingies. Though my gameboy didn't survive the "incident", the game cartridge was fully functional. I used to have a ball on replacing the chips of my friends' games with other games and seeing them going nuts!

Were they even safe against magnetism?

 

But there's a reason technology changed. Blu-Ray discs will store 200 gb and holographic data storage will even top that.

[timo]

Perhaps I should note that I was thinking about those replaceable hard drives and storing the somewhere in a shelf when I talked about storing data on a HD. Not about HDs which are actually used all the time.

[airy52]

It would be too hard to get a lot of stuff on there and zip and hard drives work much better, there too bulky, also cost is a problem too

[herme3]

Uhhh... you do realize that the capacity of Nintendo cartridges is measured in hundreds of kilobytes (or less) right?

 

No. The first N64 cartridges had 32 megabytes. That would be more than enough to save all of my most important documents, and a few pictures. The N64 was made back in 1996, so companies could probably make some with even more capacity today.

 

Can anyone else say SD card...

 

The main reason I think cartridges are a good idea is because of durability. SD cards are great, but they look like they can easily be broken in half. Try breaking an old video game cartridge in half. I've tried it before when I was trying to open a N64 cartridge. It was impossible for me to break it. I started hitting it with a hammer, and I only made a few dents. I kept trying to cut it with various sharp objects, and it took me about 1/2 an hour to get it open. Can you name one other type of storage media that would be that difficult to break? I hit a CD with the same hammer, and the CD just shattered into hundreds of pieces.

 

Well, I have an old hard drive that still has it's original windows 95 (I think it was installed in 96) on it and it still works fine.

 

That's really not that impressive. I also have a hard drive that's about 10 years old and it still works. Some of my cartridges are over 20 years old. I really doubt that a hard drive would last that long under regular use.

 

Were they even safe against magnetism?

 

I've tested this, and magnets don't appear to affect cartridges.

 

It would be too hard to get a lot of stuff on there and zip and hard drives work much better, there too bulky, also cost is a problem too

 

I still believe that cartridges are more durable. I'm not talking about replacing DVDs, SD cards, or flash memory devices. I'm just saying that cartridges should be an option for people who want to ensure their data can be stored safely for long periods of time.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

No. The first N64 cartridges had 32 megabytes. That would be more than enough to save all of my most important documents, and a few pictures. The N64 was made back in 1996, so companies could probably make some with even more capacity today.

They had anywhere from 4 to 64 megabytes of capacity.

 

 

The main reason I think cartridges are a good idea is because of durability. SD cards are great, but they look like they can easily be broken in half. Try breaking an old video game cartridge in half. I've tried it before when I was trying to open a N64 cartridge. It was impossible for me to break it. I started hitting it with a hammer, and I only made a few dents. I kept trying to cut it with various sharp objects, and it took me about 1/2 an hour to get it open. Can you name one other type of storage media that would be that difficult to break? I hit a CD with the same hammer, and the CD just shattered into hundreds of pieces.

There are "sport" Flash drives with small rubber protectors built in to protect against shock, and some are also made of metal for durability. Most people don't need that much strength in a storage medium, though.

 

I still believe that cartridges are more durable. I'm not talking about replacing DVDs, SD cards, or flash memory devices. I'm just saying that cartridges should be an option for people who want to ensure their data can be stored safely for long periods of time.

Let me explain this. A video game cartridge is simply a repackaged Flash memory (or some other, similar storage device) card stuck in a plastic case. If I was to make a Flash stick out of titanium, it would be stronger than any cartridge you could ever find. And some Flash sticks do come in metal cases with rubber shock protectors. If you want protection, find one of those.

[Psycho]

Let me explain this. A video game cartridge is simply a repackaged Flash memory (or some other' date=' similar storage device) card stuck in a plastic case. If I was to make a Flash stick out of titanium, it would be stronger than any cartridge you could ever find. And some Flash sticks [i']do[/i] come in metal cases with rubber shock protectors. If you want protection, find one of those.

Indeed, that is what i was think when he made this topic, cartiridges were good at there time as they could hold enough data for the game and also were robust so if they were dropped or hit as kids do from time to time they would be find.

But since the time they were used they have never been develop and upgraded and are out of date, also flash sticks hold alot more data on them and as you say can be protected just as well, it just most people would rather have something that is light and small rather than something that can take being hit with a hammer.

I have a flash stick that is rubber coated, and can take quite a bit of a battering anything a normal day can throw at it, also it is water proof as i found out when i left it in one of my pockets when i washed them.

[Dak]

whee, that's a hard-core li'l cartridge.

 

The systems were harder too... i dropped my snes down the stairs when moving house, and it works fine. doubt my PC would prove as hardy

 

I suspect that the disk's ability to survive boiling/freezing/submersion etc are due to the fact that they're hard-wired, and not re-wrightable; as i understand it, the chips inside a nes/gb cartridge store their data in a manner more analogouse to CDs than to the more fradgile (but usefully re-wrightable) magnetic floppies.

 

I'm interested tho: did the game that you used to test this have any save features (save game, hi score etc), and if so did the data persist your tests, and do the save features still work?

[doG]

Someone help me here. Why would anyone even suggest such a thing in the age of USB drives and DVDs? And for important data, my own daily backup routine compresses my file list, encrypts it and then emails it to my gmail account where I know it is protected by their daily backup routines.

[1veedo]

Use squashfs. You can get anyware around 3 or more times the storage capacity. It uses the same compression as 7-zip but goes through a few other routines like douplicate files/file parts, and merges smaller files together so it doesn't wast space on overhead.

 

I recently got 184MB from a 526 root fs on a liveCD. I was really quite amazed at how much space it saved. A full gnome,xmms,firefox/flash/java,xine/codecs... all capable of running inside 256MB of RAM (meaning it goes super fast as things dont have to be loaded from the CD -- actually, it's faster than it would be running from a hard drive).

[Pleiades]

I know for a fact SD cards can be submerged in salt water without ill effects. I had it happen to one of my card briefly and I've heard a story about a card surviving the Christmas tsunami and the pictures being recovered and used to identify the owners. Assuming it can withstand submersion, I see no reason why it wouldn’t withstand boiling and freezing, although I have yet to try it personally. That leaves only physical durability, which is dependent on construction and packaging; the use of larger circuit components and a tough casing could make flash memory very resistant to physical abuse. See http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpress/?page_id=243 for some more flash durability tests.

 

Of course if you just want to save data for a long time, put your SD cards in a safe. Flash memory is limited in that it can only retain the electrical charge that represents a bit for about 10 years. This limit could easily be solved by having a device periodically copy and rewrite the card to refresh each charge.

[herme3]

I suspect that the disk's ability to survive boiling/freezing/submersion etc are due to the fact that they're hard-wired' date=' and not re-wrightable; as i understand it, the chips inside a nes/gb cartridge store their data in a manner more analogouse to CDs than to the more fradgile (but usefully re-wrightable) magnetic floppies.

 

I'm interested tho: did the game that you used to test this have any save features (save game, hi score etc), and if so did the data persist your tests, and do the save features still work?[/quote']

 

Yes, after all of those tests my game and the high scores were still saved on the cartridge.

 

Assuming it can withstand submersion, I see no reason why it wouldn’t withstand boiling and freezing

 

Many things won't be able to withstand extreme temperatures. Even if something is waterproof, that doesn't mean that it can't melt.

 

Flash memory is limited in that it can only retain the electrical charge that represents a bit for about 10 years. This limit could easily be solved by having a device periodically copy and rewrite the card to refresh each charge.

 

Yes, but there are some instances where you might need to find some data that you used a very long time ago. If you own a large company, you aren't going to want to copy and rewrite all of your cards. You might want to put them on some type of storage media and put them in a file cabinet. If you suddenly need this data 20 year later, you are going to have a problem.

 

Some of my SNES cartridges haven't been played for about 15 years, but all of my saved data is still on them.

[doG]

Some of my SNES cartridges haven't been played for about 15 years, but all of my saved data is still on them.

I've still got some punch cards from the '70's that still have the data I saved on them too...

[JustStuit]

I seem to have the opposite problem, none of my SNES cartridges work, I have to blow in them and hit them before they load. They also freeze up and lose saved data. Maybe the rough coaxing is not good for them.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Yes, but there are some instances where you might need to find some data that you used a very long time ago. If you own a large company, you aren't going to want to copy and rewrite all of your cards. You might want to put them on some type of storage media and put them in a file cabinet. If you suddenly need this data 20 year later, you are going to have a problem.

The ideal solution for this sort of thing is a hard disk, because long-term storage for a business really doesn't have to be incredibly durable. HDDs offer high storage density and they're cheap.