Robust Image Storage Mathods for CD-R

Abstract

We are now in a rapid growth digital age. Different kinds of digitized applications are affecting people's daily life in different ways. All of these digitized applications generate tremendous amounts of information every day. We need to archive the important information because of their enduring value. However, the storage of digital information over time is a complex and difficult task. Selecting reliable digital archiving media, choosing suitable digital archiving methods, and using appropriate file formats for digital archiving are essential elements for achieving this task.Many companies and organizations have invested in finding reliable and affordable storage media for digital archiving since the end of the last century. Compact Disc Recordable (CD-R) quickly became one of the most popular choices for preserving digital information because CD-R can provide reliable back up at a reasonable price. Nevertheless, recent studies revealed that CD-R as a recording media for long term information archiving is not as reliable as we wish [4]. Its recording media may suffer from lost data because of possible damage from heat, humidity and light.In order to improve the performance of CD-R for long term digital archiving, there has been some research on hardware and software solutions to address this potential problem. Still most existing improvements have limitations either in the need of changing current CD-R standards or significant changes in current optical media drives.The objective of this research is to design and implement a novel system that advances the state of the art in digital archiving using CD-R, especially in the area of digital image storage. The design proposes robust image storage methods for CD-Rs based on the JPEG2000 standard. These storage methods combine the virtual block interleaver, Reed Solomon codes, and the error resilience tools of JPEG2000 effectively to protect the images on CD-Rs against errors caused by possible physical damage.To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed digital data storage methods, numerous experiments are conducted. The results show that the robust digital archiving methods for CD-R are useful and efficient.