---
title: "Storage decays faster than the records must last"
url: https://mru.space/use-cases/long-term-archives/
description: "Storage decays faster than records must last. Mru Field decides what to move to durable media, and checks it, as storage fails."
---

[Mru](https://mru.space/) / [Mru Field](https://mru.space/field/) / [Use cases](https://mru.space/use-cases/) / Long-term archives

Memory · Preservation Exploring

# Long-term archives

Storage media decay faster than the records must last.

![Svalbard Global Seed Vault entrance in winter snow](https://mru.space/_astro/pl12-seed-vault.DOuTxit7_y892j.jpg)

Svalbard Global Seed Vault entrance in winter snow Michael Major for Crop Trust · CC BY-SA 2.0

“Capability is a depleting resource to be spent, not a fixed budget to be defended.”

Whitepaper, §5

Storage decays. When not everything can be kept, something has to choose. The whitepaper calls this knowledge triage: keep what matters on the most durable medium, and check it.

Mru Field runs on the processors already in the equipment. When one fails and nobody can come, it continues on the ones left and delivers only results it can check. Status: decision core at TRL 3; first field pilot planned for 2027.

01

## Stored data decays

Flash wears out and bits flip. Logs and settings drift unless something checks them.

02

## No one to ask

When two computers disagree, there is no operator to say which one is right.

03

## Power runs down

Batteries fade and panels foul. The system has to do less, on purpose, and keep the important part going.

## Three computers. Then two. Then one, still working.

Most redundant systems stop when they lose their majority. Mru Field steps down instead, and says which mode it is in.

3 alive · vote

A B C

Three computers vote. One bad result is outvoted.

2 alive · compare

A B C

Two compare. A known-answer test finds the faulty one.

1 alive · self-check

A B C

The last one checks its own work and keeps what matters most, at half speed.

Power

Varies

Link

Varies

Visits

Rare, by design

Service life

Centuries

## Questions

Does Mru Field need new hardware?

No. It is software for the processors you already deploy. It runs beside your control code and decides which computer to trust as parts fail.

Is this a storage product?

No. It is software that decides what to move to more durable media, and checks it, as storage fails.

How do we start?

Use the form below. We first model your hardware and show what each redundancy design returns over its whole life. Then we plan a pilot on your own equipment.

## Related settings

[All use cases](https://mru.space/use-cases/)

[

Energy · Long-term

### Nuclear-waste repositories

](https://mru.space/use-cases/nuclear-waste/)[

Research · Polar

### Polar stations and sensor networks

](https://mru.space/use-cases/polar-stations/)[

Infrastructure · Satellite IoT

### Satellite-linked remote devices

](https://mru.space/use-cases/satellite-iot/)