I agree with every one of Glenn's points with regards to media types. That
said, I think it highly unlikely that a computer some 100 years hence (or
perhaps as little as 10-20 years) will be able to use the USB X.0, IDE,
SATA, or any of the other data transmission protocols. I also doubt that
they'll be able to make any sense of the data structures in the media
storage system (NFS, CDFS, etc.). And whether you choose PDF/A (ISO 19005),
PDF (ISO 32000), ODF (ISO 26300) or Microsoft Word 2003, I doubt very much
you'll be able to read any file format in 100+ years. The singular exception
to that right now is XML, for this reason: at the end of the day you can
always print the XML stream to paper or film.  

Every month another story comes out about media that will last for a
bazillion jillion years. I say, "So what?" Nobody will be able to read the
data structures or the documents on the media in far less time than that. If
you want digital records to last for an extended period of time, in my
opinion there is only one way to get there: migration. It's expensive,
labor-intensive, error-prone, and just a pain all the way around. But all
the work in creating universal emulators notwithstanding, we ain't there yet
and I'm not sure whether we'll ever get there. 

Now, the original question was for just 15 years. Within that time frame I'm
OK with proprietary if it's well-documented because in converting e.g. .msg
or .xls to .pdfa you lose significant functionality, just as you would in
printing. On the other hand, if the document in question doesn't have active
content like .xls, databases, etc., PDF/A is a fine format. So are the
others I listed above that are ISO standards. And even TIFF and JPG are
reasonable choices for page-oriented documents and pictures. In terms of
media formats, gold CDs/DVDs are appropriate for now because the Blu-Ray
players are backwards-compatible. But this will need to be monitored
closely. I wouldn't use any kind of hard disk because the risk of
catastrophic failure is almost certain over that period. A USB drive would
also be suitable as long as it was unencumbered with odd data structures or
encryption. 

Kind regards, 

Jesse Wilkins, CRM
[log in to unmask]
(303) 574-0749 direct
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessewilkins



-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Glenn Sanders
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 10:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Preserving electronic records on portable media

Stephen

There has been so much information on the web, and on this listserv, in the
last few years on htis topic that it shouldn't be hard to track it down with
some Google searches and prowls through the listserv archives. I tell people
to buy the most expensive gold CDs and DVDs they can find, and they will
probably last 5 years, maybe 15 (maybe 100 but who knows, we are getting
into probabilities here).

USB sticks, solid state drives and other storage media which don't spin
round and round - it seems the life depends on the number of times you write
to them, so if you write data on and stick the gizmo in an archive box it
should last many many years.

Removable / external hard drives: I've seen an academic research paper
suggesting, in good archival storage, that the data on the platters will
still be readable in 100 years. Personally I'd be interested in seeing if
the engine still powers up and the bearings still turn if unused for more
than a couple of years. Notebook (2.5 inch) drives are inherently more
robust than 3.5 inch drives. But overall, I don't like this idea at all.

Formats - go with PDF, preferably PDF/A. Native formats are a big no no, run
scared on this one. PDF is a proprietary but open standard, and government
records authorities world wide are betting that we will still be able to
read PDFs in the distant future (assuming you can still read the storage
medium).

No direct experience with legal holds, but I'd certainly stick a statutory
declaration or similar in with the data on the CD or DVD or whatever -
that's what we used to do with microforms for archival and evidenciary
purposes.

Cheers

Glenn

Glenn Sanders
Australia
0407 187 333
These views are mine alone. They may or may not be those of any
previous or present employers or clients. I don't know. If I'd asked and
they'd agreed, I would have signed it "Harry Peck and Co and Glenn".
Or whatever. But I haven't, so I didn't.

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