MR. TechTips,
So I’m a small business owner and I have to keep a copy of emails and other records. Thankfully I can scan paper docs to PDF. Then con to this is I have a lot of data to sort or categorize but where to store it?
my question is for long term storage what should I do? After 6 months or a year for taxes...I really don’t need to look at it unless I need to pull up an old contract or communication thread.
should I place it on an external SSD, external Hdd - traditional plater style ( I like LaCie) or a USB Key like Corsair survivors which I love for travel or dvd or cd.
my concern then is how long is the data good for or what’s the life span of the storage device. I have heard cds and DVD’s fail after a number of years depending on quality. USB keys need to be plugged in and data copied on and off the device and may have so many read writes and similar with hard drives, I have heard platers may be better than ssd.
unfortunately I can’t afford the digital micro fish system...
so what is the best solution?
the assumption is to archive place on a shelf, box or safety deposit box and only access to update or store more data or review the occasional doc. Though it may be better to have a USB key or drive for each year.
Really just need for audit or lawsuits cya purpose. I have already scanned several filing cabinets worth of docs.
so what is the best log term storage media and what maintenance is needed?
Most of this does not need to be on or in the cloud for security purposes.
thanks for the help.
