[GTALUG] War Story: Asus UX305ca SSD failures

[Russell Reiter]

On Fri, Aug 9, 2019, 2:45 AM Kevin Cozens via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:

> On 2019-08-02 8:03 a.m., Russell Reiter via talk wrote:
> > On Fri, Aug 2, 2019, 7:23 AM Stewart C. Russell via talk <
> talk at gtalug.org
> > <mailto:talk at gtalug.org>> wrote:
> >
> >     On 2019-08-01 11:09 p.m., D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> >      >
> >      > - punch cards and paper tape: 100 years
> >      >
> >      > - 9-track mag tape: 10 years
> [snip]
> >     Good luck getting a reader for any of these now. At least the paper
> >     media is scannable.
> >
> >
> > Chances are if you have the data on tape, you already have the reader.
> These
> > folks will repair or replace your equipment.
> [snip]
> > ????It may seem out of date, but there is still a strong business case
> for
> > maintaining the original archive records on original format, as well as
> a
> > copy transferred to newer media, depending on the importance of the
> dataset
> > itself.??
>
> I have printouts of programs that had been printed on an old IBM 1403
> chain
> printer, some programs that are on punch cards, and one on paper tape. I
> also have two mag tapes reels that were used with IBM mainframes. I have
> no
> idea what is on those tapes. The printouts, punch cards, and paper tape
> have
> survived intact for over 40 years.
>
> I still (mostly) remember how to read punch cards. I would have to find a
> site to help decode the paper tape but it could be run through an ASR 33
> teletype to generate a printout.
>
> I recently discovered I have a cassette tape with 4K BASIC for Altair 8800
> dated 1976. I have now archived the audio on that cassette that on to my
> computer. I have other cassette tapes I used with old computers that I'm
> doing to digitize and attempt to decode.
>

There are also technologies which were developed but which got overwhelmed
by rapid changes in other areas. The lazer optical turntable for playing
old records is one.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_turntable

Also from this link, a camera which scans the vinyl grooves and uses
software to reconstruct the sound. Both of these technologies were eclipsed
by compact disk technology, yet each of them could (probably) non
destructively read the records and reconstruct the sound. Sort of a
microfiche picture treatment of sound, instead of its traditional use for
tiny copies of text and pictures.

>
> It is interesting to realize that a lot of this "old school technology"
> has
> survived many a decade yet modern devices like CDs, DVDs, and hard drives
> often have much shorter shelf lives.
>

One of the philosophical founders of media theory, Marshal McLuhan said;
"the medium is the message." This is probably more true today than it was
when he coined the phrase, given all the hyperbole around the collection of
metadata on the net these days.

The issue with recording data electronically is bit-rot. This problem is
amplified by making a copy of a copy of a copy etc. Having a master copy,
no matter what the form, would be be beneficial for any data recovery
expert, should they have an urgent need to reconstruct the original data
after suspected corruption.

We can't reverse entropy, at least not yet. The best we can hope to do is
retard it. Whether data is corrupted by dust and scratches in vinyl or cd
records, we should always be able to recreate the old technology used for
the creation of media at the time it was originally written. Except of
course that which is lost to the ancient past, like the lazer anti gravity
devices used by the Egyptians to cut and stack rocks into pyramids.

We have the lazers but fall short on the anti-gravity devices. Personally I
believe that if we don't bit-rot the planet first, we will get there
eventually. ;-)

>
> --
> Cheers!
>
> Kevin.
>
> http://www.ve3syb.ca/               | "Nerds make the shiny things that
> https://www.patreon.com/KevinCozens | distract the mouth-breathers, and
>                                      | that's why we're powerful"
> Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172          |
> #include <disclaimer/favourite>     |             --Chris Hardwick
> ---
> Post to this mailing list talk at gtalug.org
> Unsubscribe from this mailing list
> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gtalug.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20190809/5ca216b1/attachment.html>