[Gllug] Data migration and electronic archaeology

John Hearns john.hearns at cern.ch
Tue May 21 12:38:23 UTC 2002


On Tue, 2002-05-21 at 14:23, tet at accucard.com wrote:
> 
> >What do you do in the Real World (TM) when your computing platform
> >is reaching (or has passed) obsolesence?
> 
> In my case, old machines have been redeployed as file/print servers
> or firewalls once they cease to be useful as a desktop client.
> 
Sorry - that is not what I meant.
I was more talking about (say) if your critical application runs
on a PDP 11 (yes = I KNOW you can still buy them).
Or more about transferring data between databases -
how easy is that in the Real World, and how often is it actually done?

I'm thinking examples in my own experience from medical imaging.

I was involved on the sidelines in the purchase of a PACS image
database.
Main server was a Solaris box - that was five or so years ago.
How easy is it IN REALITY to get data out of old hardware onto new?

My experience was, in the medical world, that lots of old hardware 
was still being used? Hence my comments about the rack-mount tape
drive going to a hospital.

(Y2K did a lot of good there, forcing people
to think about maintaining old kit).






> That said, there are still issues. Tapes and the drives to read them
> do wear out. But then, you should be perioically rearchiving stuff
> on newer and more durable media where possible anyway. It's not hard
> to transfer data from Exabyte onto DLT or CD, for example. Sure,
> it's a pain in the ass, but it comes down to whether your data is
> sufficiently valuable to warrant the effort or not.

Good stuff - that's what I'm trying to start a debate on.
How often in reality is that REALLY done?





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