[email protected] writes:
> Recently I lost a lot of issues of Wood magazine to water
>damage. I've replaced most. I'm on a mission now. I'm cutting the
>magazines in half, scanning them to PDF file (I bought a scanner with
>a document feeder, wow), then using a 3 hole paper punch and putting
>them in 3 ring binders sorted by year and month.
>
>I just came across the #1 issue of wood magazine in excellent
>condition. I'm tempted to cut it, scan it and preserve it forever.
>Thoughts on this? Is it collectable? Leave it alone as is?
>
>PS, if anyone has interest in doing this, make a database in Excel.
>Put in a 'comment box' for each cell with features of each issue, it's
>searchable. In one glance, you can see what issues you have and what
>is in each magazine.... Also burning the PDF files to DVD to preserve
>them forever. Really have no need now for the paper copies.... but
>there's nothing like holding one in your hand. Also, you can open the
>3 ring binder and take out the few pages with the plans you need.
Your project sounds good in theory, especially if you want to share or
access off-site.
However, before you discard your paper copies at some time in the future,
there are concerns about "to DVD to preserve them forever." There is no
guarantee that the DVDs will remain readable. My recommendation follows
that of several consultants: Burn everything to more than one CD/DVD. I
go a step farther, I burn to different brands, theory being that if
one/some in a set is/are faulty, the odds that others are likely also
faulty. (I purchase CDs months apart and from different retailers,
different brands, with the hope they they didn't come out of the same
batch at the same factory.) Something of which to be aware is that the
labels we have so carefully placed on our media for identification have
now been found to cause the CD/DVD to start to deteriorate.
Burn to computer media if you want. However, if you want "forever"
copies, keep those 3-ring binders in tact. Personally, I wouldn't take
apart the magazines to put in a 3-ring binder but rather have file boxes
designed for magazines or binders designed for them. The magazine binders
are expensive but worth every cent for long-term storage and frequent use.
Databases are an excellent idea. I'm wondering if the publisher already
has something available. Personally, I'd use something higher-end than
Excel, such as FileMaker (it's much more versatile as it's always been
intended to be a database), but then that sort of thing has been my
business in the past.
Do remember a wet magazine is far more recoverable than a wet CD/DVD. :-)
(Watertight storage boxes for magazines might be in order.)
Just my comments.
Have fun with your project. It will, indeed, be rewarding.
>
>
Glenna
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:40:09 -0800, [email protected] (Glenna Rose)
wrote:
>[email protected] writes:
>> Recently I lost a lot of issues of Wood magazine to water
>>damage. I've replaced most. I'm on a mission now. I'm cutting the
>>magazines in half, scanning them to PDF file (I bought a scanner with
>>a document feeder, wow), then using a 3 hole paper punch and putting
>>them in 3 ring binders sorted by year and month.
>>
>>I just came across the #1 issue of wood magazine in excellent
>>condition. I'm tempted to cut it, scan it and preserve it forever.
>>Thoughts on this? Is it collectable? Leave it alone as is?
>>
>>PS, if anyone has interest in doing this, make a database in Excel.
>>Put in a 'comment box' for each cell with features of each issue, it's
>>searchable. In one glance, you can see what issues you have and what
>>is in each magazine.... Also burning the PDF files to DVD to preserve
>>them forever. Really have no need now for the paper copies.... but
>>there's nothing like holding one in your hand. Also, you can open the
>>3 ring binder and take out the few pages with the plans you need.
>
>Your project sounds good in theory, especially if you want to share or
>access off-site.
>
>However, before you discard your paper copies at some time in the future,
>there are concerns about "to DVD to preserve them forever." There is no
>guarantee that the DVDs will remain readable. My recommendation follows
>that of several consultants: Burn everything to more than one CD/DVD. I
>go a step farther, I burn to different brands, theory being that if
>one/some in a set is/are faulty, the odds that others are likely also
>faulty. (I purchase CDs months apart and from different retailers,
>different brands, with the hope they they didn't come out of the same
>batch at the same factory.) Something of which to be aware is that the
>labels we have so carefully placed on our media for identification have
>now been found to cause the CD/DVD to start to deteriorate.
>
>Burn to computer media if you want. However, if you want "forever"
>copies, keep those 3-ring binders in tact. Personally, I wouldn't take
>apart the magazines to put in a 3-ring binder but rather have file boxes
>designed for magazines or binders designed for them. The magazine binders
>are expensive but worth every cent for long-term storage and frequent use.
>
>Databases are an excellent idea. I'm wondering if the publisher already
>has something available. Personally, I'd use something higher-end than
>Excel, such as FileMaker (it's much more versatile as it's always been
>intended to be a database), but then that sort of thing has been my
>business in the past.
>
>Do remember a wet magazine is far more recoverable than a wet CD/DVD. :-)
>(Watertight storage boxes for magazines might be in order.)
>
>Just my comments.
>
>Have fun with your project. It will, indeed, be rewarding.
>>
>>
>Glenna
>
The design life of a home-burned DVD is about 10 years IIRC. It's a
lot less if you keep them at high temperatures and high humidities.
You might want to consider making copies of those DVDs every five
years or so until a more permanent medium comes along.
--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:48:57 -0700, Mark & Juanita
<[email protected]> wrote:
>On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:39:06 -0600, Patriarch
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>[email protected] wrote in
>>news:[email protected]:
>><snip>
>>>
>>> The design life of a home-burned DVD is about 10 years IIRC. It's a
>>> lot less if you keep them at high temperatures and high humidities.
>>>
>>> You might want to consider making copies of those DVDs every five
>>> years or so until a more permanent medium comes along.
>>
>>Well, I suppose that's true. What's the life of the technology to read
>>them, in their current format?
>>
>>I've tossed countless tapes for drives no longer available or supported
>>under currently available operating systems. It was a good thing the data
>>was no longer needed. The cost of keeping obsolete systems running, in
>>order to keep old data readable, is not trivial, for most of us.
>>
>>That's one nice thing about books. I can read the ones my great
>>grandparents left us.
>>
>>Patriarch
>
> That's one of the real concerns I have for migrating to digital photos.
Actually I'd call it a great argument for migrating to digital photos.
Most of the ones printed on paper are no more permanent than the
digital ones, and a lot harder/more expensive to copy.
My wife had an aunt who worked for Eastman Kodak in the 50s and when
she was a little girl they took a lot of pictures of her as an
informal test of color films. (Long curly red hair, green eyes and a
big smile will get you jobs like that when you're five or so.) What's
happened to those pictures over the decades is informative.
Even the regular drug store black and white prints of the 40s and 50s
have deteriorated. OTOH I have a platinum print of my grandgfather as
a young man standing in front of his locomotive that is still perfect
-- probably taken in the 20s.
The best rule is to assume that the medium is impermanent and you're
going to have to transfer the information to new media to keep it.
Digital is great for stuff like that.
(BTW: My wife still has the long curly red hair, green eyes, and the
smile, well. . .)
--RC
>
>
>
>
>
>+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> Now we'll just use some glue to hold things in place until the brads dry
>
>+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:40:09 -0800, [email protected] (Glenna Rose)
wrote:
You brought some good points. I am also dedicating a hard drive to
this little project as cheap as hard drives are. I like the binders, I
put dividers in between issues to get to a particular month easily.
The biggest thing to me is for once being organized. I can remember
sitting going through stacks of magazines looking for one particular
plan I knew I had.
I'll look at thier website (wood magazine), I had in the past but
nothing was offered as far as issues on cd or dvd media at that time.
I'd buy it in a heart beat if it was available.
>Your project sounds good in theory, especially if you want to share or
>access off-site.
>
>However, before you discard your paper copies at some time in the future,
>there are concerns about "to DVD to preserve them forever." There is no
>guarantee that the DVDs will remain readable. My recommendation follows
>that of several consultants: Burn everything to more than one CD/DVD. I
>go a step farther, I burn to different brands, theory being that if
>one/some in a set is/are faulty, the odds that others are likely also
>faulty. (I purchase CDs months apart and from different retailers,
>different brands, with the hope they they didn't come out of the same
>batch at the same factory.) Something of which to be aware is that the
>labels we have so carefully placed on our media for identification have
>now been found to cause the CD/DVD to start to deteriorate.
>
>Burn to computer media if you want. However, if you want "forever"
>copies, keep those 3-ring binders in tact. Personally, I wouldn't take
>apart the magazines to put in a 3-ring binder but rather have file boxes
>designed for magazines or binders designed for them. The magazine binders
>are expensive but worth every cent for long-term storage and frequent use.
>
>Databases are an excellent idea. I'm wondering if the publisher already
>has something available. Personally, I'd use something higher-end than
>Excel, such as FileMaker (it's much more versatile as it's always been
>intended to be a database), but then that sort of thing has been my
>business in the past.
>
>Do remember a wet magazine is far more recoverable than a wet CD/DVD. :-)
>(Watertight storage boxes for magazines might be in order.)
>
>Just my comments.
>
>Have fun with your project. It will, indeed, be rewarding.
>>
>>
>Glenna
No need to develop the Execl or other database for an index. Most search
tools these days will index words within documents, even scanned documents.
I use Copernicus and it indexes all my PDF scans.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 20:31:40 -0600, Johnboy <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:40:09 -0800, [email protected] (Glenna Rose)
>>wrote:
>>
>>You brought some good points. I am also dedicating a hard drive to
>>this little project as cheap as hard drives are. I like the binders, I
>>put dividers in between issues to get to a particular month easily.
>>The biggest thing to me is for once being organized. I can remember
>>sitting going through stacks of magazines looking for one particular
>>plan I knew I had.
>>
>>I'll look at thier website (wood magazine), I had in the past but
>>nothing was offered as far as issues on cd or dvd media at that time.
>>I'd buy it in a heart beat if it was available.
>
> DVD/CD copies of magazine archives are a big help and it's definitely
> worth something not to have to make your own.
>
> One thing is does is clear out shelf space. I've freed up maybe 40 or
> 50 feet of shelf space in the last few years thanks to on-line
> availability of information and CD archives. The magazines I used to
> keep just for research I don't need any more.
>
> It's a pity that more magazines don't offer them.
>
> --RC
>
>
> "Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
> 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
> fly with a club.
> -- John W. Cambell Jr.
[email protected] wrote in
news:[email protected]:
<snip>
>
> The design life of a home-burned DVD is about 10 years IIRC. It's a
> lot less if you keep them at high temperatures and high humidities.
>
> You might want to consider making copies of those DVDs every five
> years or so until a more permanent medium comes along.
Well, I suppose that's true. What's the life of the technology to read
them, in their current format?
I've tossed countless tapes for drives no longer available or supported
under currently available operating systems. It was a good thing the data
was no longer needed. The cost of keeping obsolete systems running, in
order to keep old data readable, is not trivial, for most of us.
That's one nice thing about books. I can read the ones my great
grandparents left us.
Patriarch
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:39:06 -0600, Patriarch
<[email protected]> wrote:
>[email protected] wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
><snip>
>>
>> The design life of a home-burned DVD is about 10 years IIRC. It's a
>> lot less if you keep them at high temperatures and high humidities.
>>
>> You might want to consider making copies of those DVDs every five
>> years or so until a more permanent medium comes along.
>
>Well, I suppose that's true. What's the life of the technology to read
>them, in their current format?
>
>I've tossed countless tapes for drives no longer available or supported
>under currently available operating systems. It was a good thing the data
>was no longer needed. The cost of keeping obsolete systems running, in
>order to keep old data readable, is not trivial, for most of us.
>
>That's one nice thing about books. I can read the ones my great
>grandparents left us.
>
>Patriarch
That's one of the real concerns I have for migrating to digital photos.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Now we'll just use some glue to hold things in place until the brads dry
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 20:31:40 -0600, Johnboy <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:40:09 -0800, [email protected] (Glenna Rose)
>wrote:
>
>You brought some good points. I am also dedicating a hard drive to
>this little project as cheap as hard drives are. I like the binders, I
>put dividers in between issues to get to a particular month easily.
>The biggest thing to me is for once being organized. I can remember
>sitting going through stacks of magazines looking for one particular
>plan I knew I had.
>
>I'll look at thier website (wood magazine), I had in the past but
>nothing was offered as far as issues on cd or dvd media at that time.
>I'd buy it in a heart beat if it was available.
DVD/CD copies of magazine archives are a big help and it's definitely
worth something not to have to make your own.
One thing is does is clear out shelf space. I've freed up maybe 40 or
50 feet of shelf space in the last few years thanks to on-line
availability of information and CD archives. The magazines I used to
keep just for research I don't need any more.
It's a pity that more magazines don't offer them.
--RC
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 23:39:06 -0600, Patriarch
<[email protected]> wrote:
>[email protected] wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
><snip>
>>
>> The design life of a home-burned DVD is about 10 years IIRC. It's a
>> lot less if you keep them at high temperatures and high humidities.
>>
>> You might want to consider making copies of those DVDs every five
>> years or so until a more permanent medium comes along.
>
>Well, I suppose that's true. What's the life of the technology to read
>them, in their current format?
Probably longer than 10 years. But that's another reason to refresh
your collection every so often.
>I've tossed countless tapes for drives no longer available or supported
>under currently available operating systems. It was a good thing the data
>was no longer needed. The cost of keeping obsolete systems running, in
>order to keep old data readable, is not trivial, for most of us.
>
>That's one nice thing about books. I can read the ones my great
>grandparents left us.
Great grandparents perhaps, but don't bet on the ones left by our
grandparents. For most of the century, a lot of books were printed on
high-sulfur paper that oxidizes quickly. A lot of books from the 30s
and 40s are so brittle they're almost unreadable.
Another reason to separate the medium from the message, IMHO.
--RC
>Patriarch
"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells
'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets
fly with a club.
-- John W. Cambell Jr.