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> Factor in that these tapes are designed to be written to and then sit on a shelf for years

This is important. Your $47 consumer hard drive will likely not have that longevity, nor will your home computer 10 years hence likely have the correct interface and drivers to access it.



I have some older hard disk drives, and none of my current hardware will recognize the drives, even though the interface cable fits.

Ditto for my 5.25" floppy drives.

I finally threw away my old magtapes because there is no way to read them.

I threw away my zip disks for the same reason. And my MD disks. And my old tape cartridges from the 90s - no way to read them.

My old computers I retired in perfect working order will no longer boot (probably bad capacitors, who knows).

VHS and LaserDisc players are no longer made.

The only long term solution I've found is to buy new hard disks every year and copy the data forward.




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