I'm sure I'll not be the only one to say, store on many kinds of backup 
in different places.  A new server could die today as do hard drives, 
CDs, and any other kind of storage media and devices.  And, MIGRATE 
CONTINUOUSLY!  Do not put your digital eggs in one basket or in the same 
place, and be sure as the night follows the day, they will all die some day.

Rod Stephens

Christina Hostetter wrote:

>Good Afternoon.  I am in the middle of a debate on what is the best way
>to store large quantities of digital media (audio, video, and images).
>I have always been under the impression that for such large quantities
>of information and such large files a dedicated server (or servers) is
>the best way to go as opposed to external hard drives or CD-ROM.
>
> 
>
>Our IT manager had this to say: Our servers have only lasted about 5
>years before requiring replacement.  I wonder what makes you think
>servers are appropriate for storing large amounts of data?
>
> 
>
>He is suggesting that we use external hard drives or CD-ROM to store our
>media.  I think it would be much easier to store everything on one or
>more servers and have the files accessible to anyone rather than having
>to come to me all the time to pull materials in the archives.  Plus, you
>could migrate that information to a new server when the old one is no
>longer working.
>
> 
>
>Any thoughts?  I always thought servers that store only digital files
>last longer than 5 years.
>
> 
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Christina J. Hostetter
>
>Archivist
>
>National Press Club Archives
>
>529 14th Street, NW
>
>Suite 480
>
>Washington, DC  20045
>
>202-662-7598
>
>www.press.org/library/archives 
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> 
>
>  
>