Best way to store belongings?

What's the best way to store computer information for the longest time?

• I have been putting all my pictures on a flash drive but then I found out the only should live for about 4-8 years until the battery dies. What would be the best thing to put all my photos and documents on that I could put it in a safe and decades later still retrieve the information? Would a CD/DVD work if I kept it from getting damaged? Floppy disks are like VCR cassettes and the magnetic pull of the North Pole will wipe the bytes of information off as the years go by. But what about a CD or DVD, is that more like a vinyl record in that it will still be good after 40 years? This is all assuming I will still be able to find the hardware to use the device in a few decades as the stuff we have now will be long gone. Anyways, what is the most reliable way to store pictures and how long is the longest I could store them for? Btw, I realize that printed photographs would be the best way not to lose them but that's not really an option as I have so many and need them to be on something small. One more thing, I recently found an Omega Zip Disk with an animated movie I made on it. It is eleven years old this month. Those thing were supposed to be the new big thing back around 2001 but then they were replaced by CDs and DVDs and they basically disappeared. Does anyone know if the Zip Disk will still have the information from 11 years ago on it? It's been kept in a safe temperature-controlled area the whole time. It doesn't have a battery like the flash drive so it could still be good. However, I'm not sure if it was like a floppy disk and time can wipe it clean of its 0s and 1s. So should it still have my movie on it? Also, what would be the best way to get the movie off it (if it's still there) and on to a DVD? I see there are some Zip Drives for sale on eBay (pretty cheap) but I don't know how I'd even get that thing hooked up to a modern computer; the cord definitrly would fit. Do computer repair stores have that kind of stuff that they could do it for me? Where should I look, like what kind of store or service? Thanks in advance!

• Answer:

  First of all a flash drive does not have any batteries in it. The nand flash memory chip allow a certain number of read - write cycle before they kick the bucket. Also they will not last to long, as the silicon in the chips will decay over time. Hard drives have the same problems as floppy and Zip, they are magnetic storage, thus can be erased by any magnetic field. They say that CD' s and DVD's will last at least 100 years, so that will be your longest storage option. As long as you don't scratch, expose to radiation, heat and extreme cold and otherwise mistreat a CD/DVD it will last for 100 years, so again, that's your best bet. Put your life memories to CD/DVD and store in a CD/DVD zippered book (wallet), in a temperature controlled space and away form radiation and direct sun light. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Stands-Mounts-Furniture/CD-DVD-Storage/abcat0106010.c?id=abcat0106010