data rot
Information gradually corrupts
Data rot is the gradual degradation or loss of digital information over time.
Physical media decay—hard drives fail, CDs delaminate, magnetic tape demagnetizes.
Software obsolescence compounds the problem: files saved in outdated formats become unreadable as programs that created them disappear.
Half our research from the 1990s is lost to data rot.
Also called bit rot.
Formally advised against using
- unsupportedLacking backing or proof
- incompatibleUnable to exist together
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
- inaccessibleCannot be reached
Dishonest abuse of power
- deteriorationProcess of declining quality
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- entropyQuantified chaos in systems
- disk failureStorage device breakdown
Error-detecting calculated value
- backupStored duplicate for recovery
- redundancyNeedless duplication
- verificationProving something accurate
- error correctionFixing identified mistakes
RAID · replication · migration · format conversion · cold storage · validation · fault tolerance · recovery
deprecated
Formally advised against using
- unsupportedLacking backing or proof
- incompatibleUnable to exist together
- unreadableCannot be deciphered
corruption
Dishonest abuse of power
- deteriorationProcess of declining quality
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- entropyQuantified chaos in systems
checksum
Error-detecting calculated value
- backupStored duplicate for recovery
- redundancyNeedless duplication
- verificationProving something accurate
error correction · RAID · replication · migration · format conversion · cold storage · validation · fault tolerance · recovery · version control
data rotdata preservation
Maintaining information for future access
data integrity · incorruptibility · immutability · error correction