Capitalism and its endless, relentless quest for more and more money, has blessed us all with a concept called “planned obsolescence”.
What exactly is Planned Obsolescence ?
The meaning of this innocuous-sounding phrase is that products in today’s world are deliberately designed to fail within a planned time frame. The consumer then must replace the product on a regular basis.
This allows the producer to sell more products, thus making more money.
The concept, of course, is more complicated than that, but for our purposes this explanation will suffice.
The whole concept of planned obsolescence is particularly prevalent in the computer and high-tech industry. New discoveries and inventions happen very quickly in these fields.
The result of this is a rate of technology obsolescence that is truly breathtaking, whether planned or not.
Technology and Data Storage
The fact that technological progress occurs so rapidly is a cause for concern when it comes to data storage.
Since most data needs to be stored for years, the fear that the storage medium could become obsolete before the data is no longer needed is a very real one.
This is why it is important to make sure you are keeping up with developments in the tech industry. You need to be sure that data backups are being done on technology that will be available for a long time.
I’m sure most of us remember the days of the 3.5 inch floppy. Many companies were left with giant stacks of useless discs when they became obsolete. A great deal of data was probably lost, as well.
Having a Plan is Critical
It is crucial to plan for obsolescence to occur. You should make sure that your current data is being properly stored on a device that will still be relevant for several years. Also, that you are also transferring previously stored data onto newer storage devices as necessary.
This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
When you have problems we can help with Data Backup & Recovery here.
