Have you seen how ink fades away on shop receipts over time? - cheap materials.
What paper & pen ink do you use for paper backups? How many years it remain visible?
Steel plates could be a solution, but costly in case you back up many passwords or will change them.
Sorry if too far from BW software topic, don’t know where else to ask.
I just wanted to share my experiences since I don’t really know the answer.
I think receipts are a poor comparison because they use thermal paper, which doesn’t require ink to print. So, you might be able to keep them legible longer if you store them in the refrigerator.
Inkjet prints don’t last long for me either, but that might be because I use low-quality ink.
My laser-printed papers have lasted over 20 years and are still legible. The ink is heated and bonded to the paper. You could probably keep them even longer if you laminate the paper.
Paper receipts generated by Point of Sale machines are usually printed on thermal paper. The printing on thermal paper can fade rapidly.
Basic black ink on white paper from inkjet, laser and inked ribbons will last for tens of years and could last for hundreds of years.
Laser-printed on acid-free, archival-bond paper is a well accepted method for documents that need to be archived for the long haul.
Thanks everyone, that’s helpful. One more thing: as everyone suggests printing instead of writing (less error-prone and more convenient) - how do you make sure passwords printed are not recoverable from printer memory.
Printer-tech-savvy home intruders are not in my threat model, but I might sell that printer on eBay eventually.
Personally, I would advise against a paper backup of your entire vault contents (in part for the reasons that you mention). So I’m curious about who “everyone” is, who is giving you this advice.
If you find yourself in some post-apocalyptic world where digital backups are no longer usable, will any of your printed passwords still be usable?
IMO, a more rational approach would be to keep multiple copies of an encrypted backup file (stored in multiple locations), and then to write the file password on paper. If you have reasonably legible penmanship, you should be able to handwrite the file password instead of printing it.
Redundancy rule, use more storage types.
I store on USB drives too, but they have their lifespan (5-10 years ?). Nothing post-apocalyptic.
Burn to M-Disc, or upload to the cloud, then. My point is that an encrypted digital archive will serve you better than a plaintext hardcopy archive.