Illusion of PERMANENCE

A decade or two ago, when we saw the dawn of digital photography, we were told

and believed that the digitized photo will be safe and permanent.

Unlike silver based photo image which is vulnerable to the chemical deterioration

etc. digitized information is the most reliable, solid archive of the recording.

—– Really  ? ? ?

non

After nearly three decade, the people who bought early CD music, started to notice

that their disc has been deteriorated and no longer playable due to the

ageing of the plastic material.

CD player just show you a sign [ No Disc ] or music became corrupt and repeat the

same passage again and again. —– The average life of CD is 20 years.

Considering the 100-year-old Wax-cylinder Gramophone Record still able to give the signals out,

I wonder what an advancement of technology was.

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And I noticed, some photos saved in a USB flash memory has become [ Invalid ] —– ? ? ?

Data was just evaporated.  Since I have no idea what  image existed there.   I just give up.  Nothing I can do.

—– The data in the flash memory last 5 years.

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HDD / Hard disc is notoriously fragile animal.  One drop would nullify hundreds of Giga byte of data instantly.

( Mechanical and electrical life span of HDD is about 5 years.    Therefore, you may need to copy the data

again to new HDD, before trouble occur )

It is absolutely true. Digitized image never changes and as it is the simplest form of the

information which consists only 1 and 0, it would be most reliable form.   Yes, Information is,

but not a media which recording or storing them.   Without a media, the data can not exists.

And the danger of electrical glitch which corrupt the data or OS could be always there.

The more you open the file, the more chance to have it.   The larger the HDD, having the more danger.

(Just imagine, a  2.5″  HDD disc on the photo having less than 5 square inch surface. —– Assuming, on there

30 Giga x 8 magnetized (and not magnetized) dot are aligned —– you know how small they are.

Picking up the data, whether each point was magnetized or not, from the disc which is rotating  5400 round

a minute —– it is an incredibly tricky business, even when everything worked perfect = soon or later,

something not perfect come to affect the over all function = you no longer able to read the data.  That’s it. )

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A collection of Photos and Video images I had been accumulated in my old laptop which I have copied into

a USB flash memory to read in my new laptop was just disappeared all together.    4 Gb size of data has just gone.

The screen shows ” File is empty / 0 bite ” —– great !

( Later, I recovered the lost file in the  4Gb USB memory using [ Mini Tool Power Data Recovery, Free Edition

program ]  which I downloaded free —– saved about 15,000 files out of 20,000 though, all jumbled-up, without

caption or file name = you know,  How the situation is nightmarelish —– 😦   and   😀  )

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In this situation and its hard reality, the internet data storage service was born —- though, like my experience,

one day its might just disappear.   Service might be withdrawn, even by human error,  or the file even the

site management itself could be hacked in, and the data could be lost.  The more important the data is, it would

be the more profitable for the hacker to steal it.  The Cloud computing may seem very convenient and

very very powerful though,  of cause,  such concentration of the data can be seen just as a huge

treasure trove,  and inevitably attract the organized cyber criminal.   Cynical irony is, even if the

data has been extremely highly encrypted, billion combination of code can easily  be deciphered

using even more computing power of the Cloud. —– Nothing is safe and permanent.

So that the wise mind-set is, —– accept its nature, it might be there, might not be there,

and live with which is remained to be there.

If the photo is there, use it.  If not there, it’s not there.   Never cling the idea  [It should be there ].

(Better keep the crucial data locked up as a print-out copy —– then how about a fire ?  😀 )

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Your loved one might be there and smiling at you.

You enjoy it,  but might not be there any longer,  still not to be desperate.

You enjoy your precious memory. —– Live on what you got in your hand.

___/\___ Have a peaceful day.

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PS: ( Photo above was taken by Canon 5D Mk-II with TSE 24 mm-L II — This is a pretty well made good lens )

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