content: Software is only one aspect of archiving, the other important one is the hardware. Hard drives fail, therefore a robust backup strategy is necessary: a triple back-up plan, involving two separate physical locations. Mirror data on two separate disks, then over over the network to a third remote storage location which you can either rent or set up yourself (encrypt before sending over the network to a storage provider, if data is sensitive). Some more concepts: - Network attached storage (NAS) basically it's like hosting your own cloud server. Useful software for setting it up: FreeNAS - Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)  and the various RAID-levels, either improve performance (by striping) or help prevent data loss when a disk dies (by mirroring).    The lifespan of storage mediums: - SSDs and other flash storage can lose data after being turned off for too long (approx. 2+ years). Reason for this: the electrons that are trapped in storage cells to hold data slowly leak. - Hard drives often die within the first three years, but if they get past that will usually last longer and have a max. lifespan of 20-60 years, when the magnetic storage part of the firmware fades, data on HDDs is vulnerable to magnetic interference. - Magnetic Tape lasts longer, but read/write is slower. - M-disks (a kind of CD) are the king of longevity and are supposed to hold data for a century or two or even longer, if undamaged