Long term data storag

I’ve had a few people ask me just recently what method I would recommend when planning a long term backup strategy. One elderly gentleman in particular was creating a family time capsule that he wanted his children and grandchildren to be able to view many decades from now.

The question isn’t as easy as you may think. You may imagine that the data could be burnt to CD,locked in a cupboard and that it would last forever however unfortunately this isn’t the case. There are literally hundreds of suitably stored but physically decayed CD’s from my teenage years which I could use as testament to that.

Therefore I’ve made a list of common formats one would usually consider for archiving a large amount of data so you can pick the most suitable one for your needs:

Hard Disk –When used on a regular basis a hard disk will typically last for around 5 years before it starts to decay and if it is being used as an infrequently accessed backup drive then we can assume that this can be at least doubled. Unfortunately degradation of the discs metallic surface,along with the inevitable seizing of parts would still occur over an extended period of disuse.

Optical –Standard optical media includes CD,DVD and BluRay. If choosing this media type ensure that you go for the highest grade money can buy you;a premium brand such as Taiyo Yuden may well last a decade but a more budget brand such as Memorex may only last half that time before the aluminium starts separating from the plastic.

Flash Media –Clearly you would expect that since Flash Media has no moving parts it would be ideal for a long term backup strategy. To an extent you would be right but the published data retention of a unused flash drive is only around 10 years and unfortunately once the device has reached the end of its life it is likely that it will go out in style,taking with it all of the information stored within.

Paper –Rather obvious this one –if left in a dark,dry place then paper will last for many decades;we recently recovered a number of newspapers from 1964 from below the flooring of a building we’re doing up and aside from being a little yellowed they’re in perfect condition. Primary problems do of course include having to find a safe place to store them along with the physical limitations relating to the amount and type of information that can be stored on sheets of paper.

Tape –This may come as a surprise,but Tape backup actually holds one of the best data retention rates hence its continued use in banking and government sectors. Typically a manufacturer will warranty a tape for 30 years with an expected life expectancy beyond that. Although the tapes themselves are affordable and the capacities typically high (between 72GB and 1TB compressed),the actual drives themselves are relatively expensive,starting at £250 for a basic model.


Unfortunately that’s it for this week;we’ll conclude next Friday by covering the remaining options,including a storage media that’s provided with a remarkable 100 year warranty.

Windows 7 Hidden Gems – Additional functionality

I’ve been living with Windows 7 for a good few months now and in that time have discovered a couple of little ‘hidden gems’ which I wanted to share with you:

Aero Shake
In Windows 7,when you click on the title bar of any window and shake it every other open window gets minimised straight back in to your taskbar,reducing clutter on your screen. This allows you to focus on the one window and then when ready shake it again and the other windows will reappear.

There are additional Aero user interface related features which make a welcome debut. These include Aero Peek which allows you to immediately see what’s going on in an application just by hovering over the icon in the task bar and Aero Snap which quickly allows you to rearrange your desktop by slamming any open window against the left,right or top side of your screen;try it!

Sticky Notes
Proof,if needed,that some of the simplest applications make the largest differences to the end user experience. One of the most commonly used applications on my PC used to be the incredibly simple ‘notepad’ as I find that my working life works a lot better if I simplify everything down in to lists.

Rather than jotting notes on random pieces of paper that will almost certainly get lost throughout the day I used to dump everything in notepad and ensure that every line was eventually cleared so I was left with a blank page before I went home.

Sticky notes have a similar application. To get started click on the start menu and type in ‘sticky’ and begin typing tasks for the day or things to remember in to little post it notes that stick to your screen. When complete either close or minimise the application to get back to the job in hand,safe in the knowledge that once Sticky Notes are reopened,these tasks will reappear exactly as you left them. When a task has been completed or the note simply isn’t needed,it can be deleted with one click of the mouse.

Improved Calculator
Windows 7 calculator has improved considerably;now rather than being an arithmetic only affair,it can be operated in four modes –Standard,Scientific,Programmer and Statistical. It can also perform unit conversion,for example grams to ounces,metres to feet and Celsius to Fahrenheit along with a couple of unexpected features such as the ability to calculate the number of days between two dates or the value of your mortgage repayment. Surely in the next version of Windows the calculator application will finally gain graphical capabilities.

Windows Disk Image Burner
For some time now the preferred method of copying and storing CD’s and DVD’s has been by using an ISO file;a single image which includes the contents of an entire disk. Reading these files used to require a specific application (the likes of which I’ve covered previously in Click) but every version of Windows 7 now includes support for these straight out the box;simply double click on the ISO file that you wish to burn,insert a blank CD or DVD and you’re done.

call racord of rescue 1122.

According to a recent survey by Rescue 1122 Punjab it has been revealed that girls are making more prank calls to Rescue 1122 than boys.This is a strange and true figure that really can change a person mind who only think boys done this.

The Punjab Emergency Service, Rescue 1122 received a total of 1,088,235 obnoxious/irrelevant calls (that’s over a million calls) at emergency number 1122 since its inception in District Rawalpindi.

The data revealed that 1,088,235 obnoxious calls included 537,623 calls from girls, 462,705 from boys, 32,437 from kids, 2,460 musical calls, 51,450 abusing calls and 1,560 were obnoxious/irrelevant calls.

The main reason for this rise in prank calls from girls is mainly due to more freedom that they have got in our society as compared to the past, opines a psychologist.

It’s not that Rescue 1122 isn’t taking any action against such unwanted callers. But the overall number still continues to increase, and hence Emergency Service 1122 is often compelled to take necessary legal action which includes imprisonment for six months or fine of Rs. 50,000 or both.

In addition, Rescue 1122 is always in touch with PTA to get those numbers blocked that originate prank calls. Registration of FIR and legal action is however the last option that the emergency service takes.

mobile users in pakistan cross 20 million

Pakistani internet users have been on the rise with accelerated pace, crossing 20 million benchmark with a greater percentage accessing the internet via mobile phones, said Freedom on the Net in it’s 2011 annual report.

The report cited International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and said that estimated users have been surging significantly on monthly basis however, the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) estimated a far lower number of internet users at only ten million.

On the other hands, some of the local think tanks said that the internet users have crossed 24 million benchmark at present with surging number of broadband and mobile internet users.

The report stated that the Internet is available in all the major cities of the country, as well as in many remote areas. The majority of people use dial-up connections whereas broadband internet is growing speedily in big cities.

With the explosion of mobile-phone use and the gradual spread of broadband internet in Pakistan, access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) has increased, as have citizen journalism and online activism, the report said.

Pakistan does not yet have a third generation (3G) network, which is also a hindrance for the spread of broadband internet and other wireless services in the country. Remote areas of the country have no access to broadband, and are left with only a slow, intermittent dial-up connection, rendering any meaningful online activities very difficult.

The number of broadband users reached almost 1.5 million mark. Pakistan is recently ranked as one of the top countries that registered high growth rate in broadband Internet penetration, Point Topic, a global broadband tracker said in its report published a few months back.

The country, which has seen a boom in its telecom sector and information technology services in recent years, recorded around 46.2 percent growth of subscribers and is placed fourth on the ranking list.

There more than 50 internet service providers including 10 broadband companies operating in different parts of the country under their license at various charges.

These service providers have brought advanced technology to deploy their network including Wimax, DSL, FTTH and HFC. The number of operators with variety of technology has been expanding base of technology users with competition, showing the falling rates of service by every passing month.

The different service providers include PTCL, Wateen, wi-tribe, Qubee, Link Dot Net, Infinity and Comsats. The broadband packages are lowest in the world ranging from Rs. 250 to Rs 3,000 per month depending on the speed and utility of data by the subscribers. However, the stiff competition among the operators has resulted constant decline in quality of service.

Pakistan has already developed and expanded its technology highways with international undersea cable for its future demands. Presently, there are four undersea cables connecting Pakistan to rest of world including PTCL’s owned SMW3, SMW4 & IMEWE and one with TWA.

The domestic internet highways or domestic Fiber backbones providers are PTCL, Wateen, Mobilink and Multinet.

Internet has been evolving in its different technological modes through high-speed broadband and has become a basic need of the people for the purpose of information, education, entertainment and business. Hence, it is an indispensable source that plays a vital role in different aspects of a masses’ life.

Pakistan’s digital growth prospects have begun to look brighter lately. Besides having a large bilingual (English and Urdu) Internet using population as the estimated viewership of blogs have reached nearly 3.4 million.