Exploring

Inherent Vice: Magnetic Media

Disks and Diskettes

Estimates of the lifespan of magnetic disks and diskettes extend less than 10 years at most.

Diskettes have a notoriously short lifespan; the plastic base can deform and cause problems with reading the disk, while the magnetic particles that record the data can become unstable. Hard drives are more reliable, but still susceptible to failure (sometimes catastrophic). Disks and diskettes are also, of course, vulnerable to strong magnetic fields, which can demagnetize the magnetic particles that store the data. While there is no hard data about the longevity of magnetic disks and diskettes, their lifespan is estimated to be less than 10 years.

In addition, magnetic disks face the problem of technological obsolescence. It is very likely that the hardware and software to read the data, particularly from diskettes, will be outdated and perhaps unavailable before the disks themselves become unreadable. Solutions for this problem, including copying and migration of data, are discussed in Session 6: Reformatting and Treatment.