LINUX Unplugged 649: Burned by AI
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Jan 12, 2026 Michael Tunnell from Tux Digital joins to tackle the looming storage crisis as prices skyrocket. They discuss how SSD and HDD costs are impacting consumers and examine personal digital hoarding habits in response to this trend. Backup strategies come under scrutiny, especially regarding offsite nuances and the risk of used drives. The conversation shifts to alternative storage solutions like optical media, with a nostalgic look back at the durability of classic formats, and introduces Blue Vault, a tool for managing Blu-ray archives.
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Used Enterprise Drives Could Create Price Spikes
- Used enterprise hardware may flood secondary markets unpredictably if AI firms fail or refresh.
- That could temporarily soften prices, but quality and warranty concerns remain.
Use Optical Discs For Cheap Cold Storage
- Consider optical media (Blu‑ray/M‑Disc) for cold archives since AI buyers ignore that market segment.
- Buy good-quality discs and burners, label and store them properly for long-term retrieval.
Keep Archives Platform‑Readable, Not App‑Locked
- Offline, readable-by-any-system archives avoid future app-dependency risks.
- Storing files as plain files on optical media preserves access without specialized restore tools.