(click thumbnail)To preserve its library, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) has transferred its entire analog sound collection to CD. The collection includes 270,000 CDs and is now the main component of the broadcaster’s digital audio archive for long-term preservation.
The contract for the archive was awarded to VCS Aktiengesellschaft, which ordered two CD-Inspector Jukebox systems from Cube-Tec International to facilitate an automated, quality control monitored CD transfer.
To ensure long-term data security and integrity, 125 TB of redundant tapeless storage is located in multiple locations within the WDR premises.
During the first year of the content migration process, over 120,000 CDs have passed through the CD-Inspector systems, with a daily volume ranging from 200 to 800 CDs per day. This level of throughput (about 50 TB of data to date) is made possible by CD-Inspector’s attendant-free automation. Since quality analysis does not require an operator, the systems can also run overnight, resulting in fast migration speed.
As of July, 85 percent of the high demand music and 90 percent of the high demand spoken word content was available to WDR staff directly from the mass storage system.
