On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 15:32:21 +0100, Paul Dormer
wrote:

(Stewart Pinkerton) wrote:

..we write
CD-Rs at work for archiving financial data, and out of around fifteen
thousand that we have produced in the past three years, not one single
disc has shown *any* defects on bit-for-bit file comparisons with the
parallel tape archive.

This is utter crap.

No, it's basic fact.

There's no way in hell 15,000 CD's in series would
be without defect significant enough to make an unrecoverable
numerical error.

Yes, there is - and they are.

The bank probably has the discs pre-tested, uses
non-standard CD-R, or each coaster is discarded as it is uncovered.

We use standard CD-Rs from TDK, and indeed the occasional 'coaster' is
produced and discarded (about one in five hundred IIRC). I was
referring to successfully produced discs which are subsequently
compared for archive verification.

Do you personally check each CD against the tapes?

No, but I know a man who does. :-)

As this is a relatively new archive, and banks are *very* fussy about
archival media, there's a parallel operation running, and the archive
media are compared on a quarterly basis by the IT storage guys, to
check for deterioration.

Can you personally
attest to the "fact" that no disc has been disposed of in this three
year time period?

Yes, as we'd have been asked to do a reprint.

Can you buggery - you work in the print department.

We 'print' the CDs, you ignorant ****.

Probably some bloke with a moustache told you this over a packet of
crisps at the coffee machine (it's a Clix.. right?) and you took it
for gospel.

I do have a mouser, but I don't eat crisps, and we have a proper
coffemaker in the office..............

I wager my house, my car, all my electrical goods that you cannot
prove what you are saying conclusively.

Bad idea, Dormouse......................

I can easily provide proof of this, as the Bank is strangely sensitive
about the archiving of financial data. It's a legal requirement that
we archive all customer records for a *minimum* of six years, and that
we can provide an *exact* copy of any statement produced over that
period if required for court evidence. We do this all the time in
fraud cases.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering