The End of an Era: Myrient Announces March 2026 Shutdown
If you're in the data preservation community, you've probably felt that sinking feeling already. The screenshot from Myrient's Discord says it all: "Myrient is shutting down 31 March 2026. Download all you can..." That simple message, posted to r/DataHoarder and upvoted over 1,700 times, represents more than just another website closure. It's the potential loss of one of the most comprehensive retro software archives on the internet.
Let's be real here—this isn't just about losing access to some old games. Myrient has been a cornerstone of digital preservation efforts for years. For those who don't know, Myrient hosts an extensive collection of ROMs, ISOs, and other software from classic gaming systems and computers. We're talking everything from Nintendo and Sega to obscure Japanese computers and handhelds. The archive represents countless hours of work by preservationists who've dumped, verified, and organized this digital history.
And now? The clock is ticking. March 31, 2026, might seem far off, but in data hoarding terms, that's practically tomorrow. If you've ever tried to download terabytes of data from a single source, you know how long that takes. The real question isn't whether you should download—it's how you're going to manage it before the doors close for good.
Why Myrient Matters More Than You Think
Before we dive into the technical how-to, let's talk about why this shutdown stings so much. Myrient wasn't just another ROM site. The community discussions make this clear—people aren't just upset about losing access to games. They're worried about losing verification data, proper dumps, and the organizational structure that Myrient provided.
One commenter on the original thread put it perfectly: "It's not just the files, it's the verification. Knowing you have a good dump matters." That's the hidden value here. Anyone can host files, but Myrient maintained standards. They verified checksums, organized by region and revision, and provided context about what each file actually was. That metadata is arguably as valuable as the files themselves.
Another perspective from the discussion: "This is why we hoard. Nothing is permanent online." That sentiment echoes through the entire data preservation community. We've seen it before with sites like Emuparadise, CoolROM, and others. Each shutdown creates gaps in the historical record. Each closure makes it harder for future generations to access digital artifacts that corporations have little incentive to preserve.
What makes Myrient particularly painful is its comprehensiveness. While other sites might specialize in certain consoles or regions, Myrient aimed for completeness. Finding obscure Japanese computer software or European-exclusive releases becomes significantly harder without resources like this. The community is essentially losing a reference library, not just a download source.
The Technical Reality: What You're Up Against
Okay, let's get practical. You've got until March 31, 2026, to grab what you can. But what does that actually mean in technical terms? Based on estimates from the community discussion, we're talking about petabytes of data. Not terabytes—petabytes. One user estimated the complete archive at "multiple petabytes," while another mentioned that just the No-Intro sets alone would require significant storage.
Here's the harsh truth: unless you have an unlimited budget for hard drives and bandwidth, you can't download everything. That's the first reality check everyone needs. The discussion threads are filled with people trying to prioritize: "Should I focus on complete sets for specific systems?" "What about verification files?" "Do I grab the obscure stuff first since it's harder to find elsewhere?"
Bandwidth is another major constraint. Even with a fast connection, downloading multiple terabytes takes time—and that's assuming Myrient's servers can handle the sudden surge in traffic as the deadline approaches. Several commenters mentioned they're already seeing slower download speeds as more people begin their archival efforts.
Then there's the organizational challenge. Myrient has a specific directory structure. When you're downloading thousands of files, maintaining that organization matters. You don't want to end up with a giant folder of unlabeled ZIP files. As one experienced hoarder noted: "The download is only half the battle. Organizing and verifying what you've grabbed is the other half."
Smart Download Strategies: Beyond Just Clicking Links
So how do you approach this systematically? Based on the community discussion and my own experience with large-scale archiving, here's what actually works.
First, prioritize by rarity. Common systems like NES or Genesis have multiple backup sources. Focus on the obscure stuff first—Japanese computers, educational software, region-specific releases. These are the files that truly disappear when a major archive goes down. One commenter suggested creating a "rarity index" for yourself, ranking systems by how difficult they are to find elsewhere.
Second, don't sleep on the verification data. The DAT files, checksums, and file lists might seem boring, but they're what make a collection usable. As several people pointed out in the discussion, having files without verification is like having books without a library catalog. You might own them, but good luck finding what you need.
Third, consider collaborative efforts. The original thread mentioned several users organizing download teams to divide systems among themselves. This makes sense—if you have five people each taking different console families, you cover more ground. Just make sure you have a plan for sharing and verifying what everyone downloads. Trust, but verify, as they say.
Finally, think about storage from the beginning. A 16TB External Hard Drive might seem like overkill until you realize how quickly retro collections fill up. And remember: one copy isn't a backup. The general rule in data hoarding circles is 3-2-1: three copies, on two different media, with one offsite.
Automation Tools: Your Best Friends for Mass Downloads
Let's be honest—you're not going to manually click through thousands of directories. You need automation. The community discussion mentioned several tools, but I'll give you my take based on what actually works in 2026.
For straightforward directory scraping, wget and curl are still your bread and butter. The recursive download capabilities can handle Myrient's structure reasonably well. One pro tip from the threads: use the --wait option to be polite to the servers. Hammering them with requests helps no one and might get your IP blocked.
For more complex scenarios where you need to handle JavaScript or navigate tricky site structures, you might consider automated scraping tools. These can handle the heavy lifting of navigating directory structures, managing sessions, and organizing downloaded files. The advantage here is consistency—you set up your scraper once and let it run, rather than babysitting a wget command for weeks.
Several commenters mentioned using Python scripts with libraries like requests and BeautifulSoup. This approach gives you maximum flexibility. You can write scripts that check file sizes, verify against existing collections, and even resume interrupted downloads. The learning curve is steeper, but if you're dealing with petabytes of data, investing time in proper tooling pays off.
Whatever tool you choose, remember to implement rate limiting. As one experienced archiver noted: "We're guests on their servers until March 2026. Don't be the person who crashes the site for everyone else." Set reasonable delays between requests, and consider downloading during off-peak hours if you're grabbing large amounts.
Verification and Organization: The Unsexy but Critical Part
Here's where many archiving projects fail. You spend weeks downloading, only to end up with a disorganized mess you can't actually use. The community discussion had several horror stories about this—people with terabytes of data they couldn't navigate or verify.
Start with a consistent naming convention. Myrient has its own structure, but you might want to adapt it for your personal collection. Do you organize by system first, then region? By publisher? By year? Decide before you start downloading, not after. Several tools mentioned in the threads, like RomVault and clrmamepro, can help with this, but they require proper DAT files from Myrient.
Verification is non-negotiable. As files transfer across the internet, corruption happens. Checksums are your safety net. Myrient provides verification data for most collections—download it alongside the actual files. One commenter shared a painful lesson: "I downloaded 500GB of PlayStation ISOs only to find 10% were corrupt. Now I have to re-download with limited time left."
Consider creating a manifest of what you've downloaded. This could be as simple as a spreadsheet or as complex as a custom database. The key is knowing what you have, what's verified, and what might need re-downloading. When you're dealing with thousands of files, memory won't cut it.
And don't forget about future accessibility. File formats that seem standard today might become obsolete. Several preservationists in the discussion mentioned keeping files in their original formats while also maintaining more accessible versions. It's extra work, but it ensures your collection remains usable decades from now.
Alternative Sources: Where to Go After Myrient
Myrient's closure creates a vacuum, but nature—and the internet—abhors a vacuum. The discussion threads are already buzzing about alternatives. Here's what the community is looking at for post-Myrient preservation.
First, the obvious: Internet Archive. They've been stepping up their game with software collections, though their approach differs from Myrient's. As one commenter noted: "Archive.org is great, but their organization can be... chaotic." Still, for many systems, it's becoming the de facto backup option.
Private trackers and Usenet groups get mentioned frequently, though with caveats. These require more technical knowledge and often have community standards to maintain. The advantage is curation—the collections tend to be well-organized and verified. The disadvantage is accessibility; not everyone can or wants to navigate these spaces.
Then there's the distributed approach. Several commenters mentioned IPFS and other decentralized storage solutions. The idea is appealing: instead of one central point of failure, files exist across multiple nodes. In practice, adoption has been slow for large software collections, but it's worth watching as 2026 approaches.
Perhaps the most interesting development is community-organized mirrors. The discussion mentioned several groups planning to host partial or complete mirrors of Myrient's collection. These won't be publicly advertised to avoid legal attention, but they'll exist within preservation circles. Finding these requires networking within the community—Discord servers, forums, and trusted connections.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Let's learn from others' pain. The community discussion is full of "I wish I had known" moments. Here are the big ones.
Mistake #1: Starting without a storage plan. One user shared: "I filled my 8TB drive in three days and had to scramble for more storage while downloads were running." Calculate your storage needs upfront, then add 20% for unexpected files. Consider using a NAS system for expandable storage that can grow with your collection.
Mistake #2: Ignoring verification until the end. Several people mentioned downloading entire systems only to discover corruption issues weeks later. Verify as you go. Create a workflow where each download batch gets checked before you move to the next. It's slower, but it prevents heartbreaking discoveries when time is running out.
Mistake #3: Underestimating bandwidth needs. Residential internet often has data caps. One commenter hit their 1TB monthly cap in a week. If you're planning a major download operation, check your limits. Some users mentioned switching to business-class internet temporarily or using server hosting with unmetered bandwidth.
Mistake #4: Going it alone. The most successful archiving efforts mentioned in the threads were collaborative. People divided systems, shared verification duties, and pooled resources. As one organizer put it: "We're all trying to preserve the same history. Working together just makes sense."
The Bigger Picture: What Myrient's Closure Teaches Us
Beyond the immediate practical concerns, Myrient's shutdown highlights systemic issues in digital preservation. The discussion kept returning to this theme: why do we keep losing these resources?
Legal pressure is the obvious answer, but it's more nuanced than that. As one longtime preservationist noted: "Even when sites aren't actively targeted, the constant threat shapes what gets preserved and how." This leads to fragmentation—collections split across multiple sites, each with different standards and accessibility.
Funding is another elephant in the room. Maintaining petabytes of data costs real money. Server costs, bandwidth, storage—it adds up. Myrient never charged for access, which made it invaluable to the community but potentially unsustainable. Several commenters wondered if donation models or institutional support could prevent future closures.
Then there's the human factor. Many of these archives are maintained by small teams or even individuals. Burnout is real. As one person put it: "We're asking volunteers to do the work of museums and libraries." Without sustainable models, we'll keep seeing these cycles of creation and loss.
The most hopeful perspective came from someone who's been through multiple shutdowns: "Each closure teaches us something. We get better at preservation, better at distribution, better at working together. Myrient's legacy might be stronger preservation practices across the community."
Your Action Plan: Step-by-Step Preparation
Enough theory—let's get specific about what you should do right now.
Week 1: Assessment and planning. Survey what Myrient has that you actually want. Create a priority list. Check your existing collection for gaps. Calculate storage needs and order drives if necessary. Join preservation communities to stay updated on developments.
Week 2: Tool setup. Choose your download tools and test them on small sections. Get verification software working. Create your organizational structure on your storage devices. If you're collaborating, establish protocols and communication channels.
Week 3-8: Download phase one. Start with your highest-priority, hardest-to-find content. Verify each batch as you go. Monitor your bandwidth usage and adjust if needed. Keep detailed logs of what you've downloaded and any issues encountered.
Month 3-6: Download phase two. Move to lower-priority but still valuable content. Consider helping others with their download targets if you finish your personal priorities early. Begin exploring alternative sources for post-Myrient preservation.
Month 7-11: Verification and organization. This is where many people slack off, but it's crucial. Verify everything. Organize according to your system. Create multiple backups. Consider sharing verified sets with trusted community members.
Month 12: Final sweep. Check for anything you missed. Download any last-minute additions to the archive. Finalize your backups. If you're technically inclined, consider hiring help for creating a searchable database of your collection.
Looking Beyond March 2026
Myrient's shutdown isn't an endpoint—it's a transition point for digital preservation. The community discussion makes it clear that while people are sad, they're also adapting. New archives will emerge. New preservation methods will develop. The work continues.
What matters now is what we learn from this experience. Better distribution methods. More resilient storage solutions. Stronger community networks. Each major archive closure forces evolution in how we preserve digital history.
So yes, download what you can before March 31, 2026. But also think about what comes after. How can you contribute to more sustainable preservation? How can you help ensure that the next Myrient doesn't face the same fate?
The files matter, but so does the community that preserves them. Myrient might be shutting down, but the mission continues. And with proper preparation and collaboration, we can ensure that this digital history survives for generations to come.
