One problem: computers, like most things, are subject to decay of one sort or another. If you expect to shove one in a cupboard and expect to plug it in and just work in 50 years from now then you might be disappointed. This is made all the worse since unlike something like paper, which is homogenous and requires just a single constant set of conditions, electronics are formed from a whole array of things which all require different conditions to store long term. Some of it would fair far better in conditions that other parts will not tolerate for nearly as long.

Neanderthal man, the Babylonians & Egyptians; to name just a few; left their 'data' in formats that can still be deciphered today.

Makes you think.

Have we really progressed?

I recall the whole thing being launched: Tomorrow's World, Blue Peter, Government Ministers, national press......

The simple fact is that there is so much data about this country sloshing about in so many databases today as to make the Domesday Book look... well..... archaic.

In a thousand years from now, I suspect that the Domesday Book will be a better record than the Land Registry's last backup. There may well be then a record of who owns what and where, but who owned what and when now will be another matter entirely.

I read a book recently that wondered whether in the future there might be archeologists trying to decipher our world today by looking for the likes of the theme tune from 'I Love Lucy' being reflected from far off stars since that is one of the few things we created that outlasted us.

Widespread. Not some niche cad file.

If you are setting about archiving data today, you'd naturally pick the most common format to store it in. One that isn't going to be impossible to convert later.

The second part of my sentence was quantifying the first part, in other words the data would be out of date quicker because most data changes day by day, except media files, which in that case your comment would stand, as would simonh_ comment

If you are setting about archiving data today, you'd naturally pick the most common format to store it in

paper

Who says it was a niche CAD format then? AutoCAD was unleashed in 1982. Its DWG format was a niche one itself for some time after that.

You might also want to encrypt your data it to keep some of it out of the public domain for the moment..... Problem there being who knows the password? OK for your subscriptions to porn sites , but what if it was the 1971 census?

All this excludes databases or whatever that are by design saved in bespoke formats for whatever reason.

All data is 'media' here. It records something. Whether that is your date of birth and death or all the episodes of Dynasty or today's weather really is irrelevant.

for what its worth, I class external as being able to connect/use it without opening the case or restarting the machine.