How much in danger my data is? bit rot? linux+windows system

Orian Pax · May 13, 2023

okay so i run dual boot system, linux mint + windows
each operating system is on separate drive and i have only two hdds wd blue 2tb smr drives
and i dont use windows much. like unless there is a particular software i wanna use i just dont use it.

- Mostly i do web browsing and i am data hoarder kind of....
- Also i have a lot pdfs bcuz i work as a lawyer
- and i have 3.7 gigs of nsfw stuff which i dont wanna lose ofcourse
- so what i do is, i just copy paste (not cut paste, i dont have that much data to begin with) stuff from linux into windows hdd that's it

QUESTIONS -
- is bit rot gonna be a problem on windows HDD?? (since i dont open/use windows much.... like i think, i have used windows only twice in the past 3 months)
- you got any suggestions on how should i backup data faster/better or the way you like?
- also also How can i decrease the chances of bitrot
- Is bitrot more common on non raid systems like mine ?
(i dont use raid,unraid,zfs whatever it is)

Electronics Wizardy · May 13, 2023

You got backups? Those are really nice to have. HOw do you backup? Send it to a cloud service?

Generally I'd say its pretty uncommon. HDDs checksum all the data, ram errors are pretty rare.

You can checksum all the files and restore backups if there are error. There are some programs that will do this.

manikyath · May 13, 2023

24 minutes ago, Orian Pax said:

Also i have a lot pdfs bcuz i work as a lawyer

backups, archival on something extremely long-lived, preferably multiple backups in different methods in different locations. depending on the type of lawyer-ing you do, your clients may rely on you being able to refer back LONG into the past.

oh - and there exist software packages specificly for lawyers to manage their client data, with security layers on top ofcourse.

25 minutes ago, Orian Pax said:

3.7 gigs of nsfw stuff which i dont wanna lose ofcourse

have a backup on one or two external drives.

32 minutes ago, Orian Pax said:

is bit rot gonna be a problem

in my experience.. not. i've only ever seen one disk corrupt with old age, and it was sutprisingly prematurely, so i assume it was a dud.

it just comes down to having multiple copies, and having a stategy to make sure all those copies are up to date and not corrupted.

IMO optical media is a strong contender here. they're cheap, store a lot of data, and if the disks are stored well (i.e. not in a moist basement) they should be very long lived. on top of that optical media has it's own checksum/error correction built in.

i have a BIG library of old CD's, and DVD's on the shelf, incuding some very early-day burned disks, and the only one out of the pile to have failed is just a very poorly treated low-budget CD that started to corrode on the label side. (on the CD, the data is essentially on the underside of the label layer, so if the label layer is compromised, the data is compromised)

from the sound of things, you have less data than fits on a DVD. just buy a 50 disk reel of DVD-RW and copy your entire livelyhood to a new DVD every months, then after 4 years you either return to the first disk, buy a new reel of 50 disks, or buy whatever is the hottest thing for backups in 2027.

also, invest in a pair of fire-resistant (nothing is fireproof..) safes, or just one and a safe at a local bank, and store each month in the other safe back and forth (so safe 1 is jan-mar-may-jul-sep-nov, safe2 is the other months). if you have both at home, put them on "as opposite as possible" sides of the house, as long as they are in a fairly thermal and humidity controlled part of the house. (no dank basements, no steamy attics)