How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
1–10 of 78 posts
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#2Related:
The long road to recover Frogger 2 source from tape drives - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36061574 - May 2023 (213 comments)
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#3Absolutely heroic effort. And that data recovery company should go out of business.
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#4A lot of work, but with success as reward!
Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today.
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#5Absolutely heroic effort. And that data recovery company should go out of business.
It is named and shamed in the comments of that video somewhere.
Data recovery companies ought to have the integrity to just say no to a job, if they cannot do it risk free. Trying and failing with the risk of damaging the original data could be very costly to the customer, even if they don't charge money - the customer's lost data could be priceless.
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#6A lot of work, but with success as reward! Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today.
> Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today.
The challenges will be different. Flash loses its charge in 30 years, most disks are encrypted, and on-site physical backups are mostly a thing of the past. The source might survive in a cloud repo, but it'll either be tied up for legal reasons or deleted when the customer stops paying the bill. But storage is cheap and getting cheaper!
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#7A lot of work, but with success as reward! Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today.
> Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today. The challenges will be different. Flash loses its charge in 30 years, most disks are encrypted, and on-site physical backups are mostly a thing of the past. The source might survive in a cloud repo, but it'll either be tied up for legal reasons or deleted when the customer stops paying the bill. But storage is cheap and gett…
Easy. The “deleted” even overwritten data can leave ghosts even multiple layers deep (think of a clay tablet or painting with multiple inscriptions)
Encryption for 30 years ago? Trivially breakable with quantum
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Makes you wonder how easy or difficult it will be in 30 years to 'recover' data from today. The challenges will be different. Flash loses its charge in 30 years, most disks are encrypted, and on-site physical backups are mostly a thing of the past. The source might survive in a cloud repo, but it'll either be tied up for legal reasons or deleted when the customer stops paying the bill. But storage is cheap and gett…
Easy. The “deleted” even overwritten data can leave ghosts even multiple layers deep (think of a clay tablet or painting with multiple inscriptions) Encryption for 30 years ago? Trivially breakable with quantum
> Encryption for 30 years ago? Trivially breakable with quantum
I wouldn't be so sure - quantum computers aren't nearly as effective for symmetric algorithms as they are for pre-quantum asymmetric algorithms.
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Easy. The “deleted” even overwritten data can leave ghosts even multiple layers deep (think of a clay tablet or painting with multiple inscriptions) Encryption for 30 years ago? Trivially breakable with quantum
> Encryption for 30 years ago? Trivially breakable with quantum I wouldn't be so sure - quantum computers aren't nearly as effective for symmetric algorithms as they are for pre-quantum asymmetric algorithms.
Regardless of the parent's statement, just normal compute in 30 years, plus general vulnerabilities and weaknesses discovered, will ensure that anything encrypted today is easily readable in the future.
I can't think of anything from 30 years ago that isn't just a joke today. The same will likely be true by 2050, quantum computing or not. I wonder how many people realise this?
Even if one disagrees with my certainty, I think people should still plan for the concept that there's a strong probability it will be so. Encryption is really not about preventing data exposure, but about delaying it.
Any other view regarding encryption means disappointment.
Re: How Frogger 2’s source code was recovered from a destroyed tape [video]
#10I'm not surprised by the data recovery company story, it feels like I only hear bad things about that industry. I remember something similar happened with LinusTechTips.