HOW LONG STORAGE LASTS
No storage medium can be considered archival.
That is the view of The National Archives. Discs fade, drives wear out and the machines that read them go out of date. The answer is not a perfect medium but more than one copy, checked and moved on in time.
10 YEARS proven, then refresh
THE SHORT ANSWER
Archives judge media on longevity, capacity,
reliability, obsolescence, cost and robustness.
HARD DRIVES
Most drives work for years, but archivists warn that failures do happen. The Digital Preservation Coalition says storage media and systems typically last only 3–5 years before they need replacing.
See the failure dataDISCS
Life expectancies for recordable CDs come from accelerated ageing tests and should be treated with caution, says The National Archives. Rewritable CD-RW is not recommended for archiving.
Compare the mediaTAPE AND FLASH
Archive tape stored and handled properly should last more than 30 years. Memory sticks and cards, by contrast, are for moving files and very temporary storage only.
Store media wellWHICH MEDIUM?
The National Archives scored common media from 1 to 3 on six criteria, for a total out of 18. It advises against any medium scoring under 12. The bar shows the total.
Scores from The National Archives' example Media Selection Scorecard (Digital Preservation Guidance Note 2, 2008). Its CD-R score is for gold/phthalocyanine discs.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
One figure from a fleet of real drives,
one from archive guidance.
1.36%
Annualised failure rate across a data centre fleet
A cloud storage company that monitors its drives reported an annualised failure rate of 1.36% in 2025, down from 1.55% in 2024. Some individual models ran far higher in some quarters.
344,196 HARD DRIVES · BACKBLAZE 2025
3–5 years
Typical life of storage media and systems
The Digital Preservation Coalition says the lifetime of storage media and systems is typically short, so data needs moving onto new storage before it is at risk.
STORAGE LIFETIME · DPC
The DPC adds that manufacturer reliability figures are usually based on models and simulations, not long-term observation, and field studies suggest they can be over-optimistic.
FOUR HABITS FROM THE ARCHIVES
These steps come from The National Archives' guidance on caring for removable media and the Digital Preservation Coalition's storage principles.
Make at least two complete copies that are not in the same place, with one offline. Using different kinds of media for each copy spreads the risk.
For long-term storage of discs and memory cards, the guidance gives 18–22°C and 35–45% relative humidity, out of sunlight. Store media vertically in proper cases.
Hold discs by the edge or centre hole and never stick labels on them; mark the top with a soft, water-based pen. Do not touch the gold contacts on cards.
Check stored media regularly, ideally every six months, and test that a sample still reads. Copy files to newer media before the old kind becomes hard to read.
WHY THE READER MATTERS TOO
The National Archives says a proven life span of 10 years is enough, because over longer periods the drives needed to read a medium usually go out of date before the medium itself wears out.
Floppy disks show how quickly that happens: all types are now obsolete, with life spans often under five years. That is why archives now take files off loose discs and drives and keep them in managed storage with several checked copies.
Questions
In The National Archives' example scorecard, high-capacity data tape (LTO) scored highest, 17 out of 18, with a life span of more than 30 years if stored and handled properly. It is rarely practical at home.
Not on their own. The National Archives says flash memory should be used for moving files between devices and very temporary storage only, as it degrades with repeated use.
There is no reliable single figure. Life expectancies are estimated from accelerated ageing tests and should be treated with caution. Gold CD-Rs with phthalocyanine dyes are thought the most stable.
In one large fleet of 344,196 drives, the annualised failure rate was 1.36% in 2025. Rates vary by model and age, so the DPC advises planning for failures whatever the manufacturer says.
Not quite. The Digital Preservation Coalition says preservation also needs copies in different places, longer-term planning and regular checks that files have not changed or been lost.
Sources
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