[technopol]

How long do they last, and what will you do when they stop making tapes and equipment to read them?

I ask because I came from a generation with a lot of tapes (reels, cassettes, 8-track, Betamax, VHS, etc.). Cassettes are coming back a little, but not much. I know long-term storage still uses tapes, but I wonder for how long. What happens when we run out of the resources to make them? Is there no better and safer long-term media that is affordable? A magnetic event could wipe them all.

[alpaca128]

Tapes are still being actively developed for archiving by companies like Fuji, Sony and IBM. They’re not going away any time soon.

And if a magnetic event is strong enough to wipe all your tapes you probably have bigger problems on your hands than a fried backup.

[Tepix]

I think you're good for 20 years or so if you store the tapes well. Pretty much all of the industry is using LTO tapes so i don't see them going away soon.