VHS Storage 101
In an earlier blog post we covered how to properly store your photos, so they’d stay in the best possible shape until you can have them digitized. But what about your bin of old VHS tapes? That bin of cassettes that holds memories of videos, graduations, weddings, childhood pets, and holidays? Unlike photos, VHS videos are extremely fragile, and were only designed to last 10-25 years before needing to be replaced. We’ll go into the details of why and how tapes break down in another post. It’s important to remember three things with VHS tapes, however: the tape itself usually isn’t very high quality, audio and video are stored as magnetic marks on that tape, and once the marks are damaged the information on that tape is lost forever.
Ok, so with those three ideas in mind, how do we keep your tapes in the best possible shape until they get digitized? Well, we have to keep them from getting damaged as much as we can. That means avoiding physical damage, environmental damage, and magnetic damage. For the most effective storage and preservation, the following steps are recommended:
Make sure your tapes are all the way at the beginning or the end. Don’t store them if the tape is in the middle.
Store tapes in the original sleeves whenever possible. This helps protect them from dust and small amounts of moisture from outside.
Store tapes VERTICALLY in a leak-proof bin. The weight of the tapes and cassettes themselves will warp the tape over time if you store a bunch of them horizontally, so put them in your bin like you’d put a book in a bookcase.
Store them in a location that is consistently cool, dry, and dark. Mold is one of the top risks associated with long-term VHS storage, and can render tapes unusable.
Avoid storing them near magnets, power supplies, or speakers. This will help the tape avoid being damaged by magnets.
Every couple of years, take the tapes out and run them from beginning to end with fast forward and rewind. This will keep the tape from getting stuck to itself while in storage.
If you do all of these steps you’ll keep your tapes in the best shape possible for digitization. Remember, the better the tape’s condition, the more information we can get into digital format for you! The real preservation happens when your videos are converted to digital, but proper storage will certainly buy you some time.