Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Which Burns First, Paper or Computer Media?

The easier question to address is which one is destroyed first...paper chars around 400 degrees F, while computer media can begin to deteriorate and/or melt around 125 degrees F. This means that removable computer media such as magnetic tapes like DLT, LTO, as well as CD's or DVD's can loose information at far lower temperatures.

Paper actually burns at 451 degrees F (remember the book Fahrenheit 451?) thus the fire rating standard is UL Class 350 for 1 hour or 2 hr.

The rule of thumb is, don't store data/media disks in a fire file cabinet!!!

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