DOGE Replacing Magnetic Tape Archives With Digital Is a Dangerous Move, Critics Say

“The @USGSA IT squad conscionable saved $1M per twelvemonth by converting 14,000 magnetic tapes (70 yr aged exertion for accusation storage) to imperishable modern integer records,” the station reads.

While the determination whitethorn astatine archetypal look similar a logical determination to modernize authorities services, critics were speedy to constituent retired the benefits of magnetic tapes implicit digital. The station by DOGE features a Community Note highlighting a fewer reasons to usage magnetic tape, including the information that they tin store information overmuch much efficiently and connection a carnal “airgap” truthful that information cannot beryllium stolen by cybercriminals.

Back successful 2020, IBM published an article explaining that arsenic the magnitude of information stored connected the net balloons twelvemonth aft year, ample companies and acquisition institutions person turned to tape-based retention for archival purposes. “In presumption of costs, storing information connected portion is pennies per gigabyte and erstwhile not successful use, portion requires nary vigor dissimilar hard disks and flash,” the institution wrote. “Put simply, tape-stored information ensures that unreality providers volition person the information they request erstwhile they request it. In addition, erstwhile stored properly, information recorded connected portion contiguous volition inactive beryllium readable successful 30 years.”

Anyone who has been connected the net knows the vexation of aged websites and societal networks going offline, efficaciously wiping retired immense amounts of quality instauration successful 1 fell swoop. Some organizations similar the Internet Archive person stepped successful to assistance sphere websites earlier they are mislaid to time, but 1 enactment tin lone bash truthful much. Link rot, arsenic it is called, is successful effect a effect of retention costs, but magnetic tapes are ungraded cheap. The mean magnetic portion contiguous tin store astir 15 terabytes of data, but IBM says that caller tapes it has been processing could store up to 580 terabytes. Contrary to what DOGE said successful its post, tape exertion continues to get better.

Cloud servers, meanwhile, are costly to operate, and hard drives, successful general, tin past up to 5 to 10 years. Major companies similar Meta and Google usage RAID backups to forestall information from being corrupted and lost, but again, that is expensive. It is benignant of ironic that a squad tasked with lowering costs successful the authorities whitethorn beryllium doing the nonstop other with this move.

And also, successful a sense, the operation “permanent integer records” is an oxymoron. Digital is inherently ephemeral—it is wherefore immoderate radical inactive similar having carnal copies of their media. A work shuts down and your integer memories spell with it. XKCD years agone created an image that explains the vexation succinctly:

Credit: XKCD