Iron Mountain, a company specializing in long-term data storage management, notes that hard disks used to store audio recordings in the entertainment industry are gradually becoming damaged to the point of being inoperable, despite being kept in optimal environmental conditions. Particularly alarming is the fact that hard disks from the 90s have experienced up to a 20% failure rate.
Data storage prior to the 1990s often involved tapes, which tended to deteriorate over time. Music labels typically stored hard disks containing valuable data in warehouses for long-term preservation. However, when the time came for the music labels to retrieve the original recordings, they discovered that these hard disks had suffered significant damage.
In addition to the issue of damaged hard disks, Iron Mountain has encountered challenges related to missing files. Companies sending hard disks for storage sometimes provide minimal, if any, information – often just rough notes or abbreviated artist names without any additional metadata. This lack of proper data indexing within the files themselves complicates the process of locating specific files within the storage warehouses.
Source: Mix Online
TLDR: Iron Mountain faces increasing hard disk failures in storing audio recordings, alongside difficulties in retrieving files due to insufficient metadata and indexing.
Leave a Comment