Karen, IMHO, the issue of long term or "permanent" -- I prefer 
"persistent" -- storage of digital information is a challenge.  There is 
no quick, single, universal solution.  So, as is often suggested in 
these pages, your answer is, "it depends".  Also, I see significant 
variance, in particular, between the public and private sectors.

For business applications:
With enduring issues of media integrity, the evolution of operating 
systems/application software,  changing encryption/password protection, 
and lack of confidence in: future budgets, staff time/expertise, need to 
preserve metadata, and motivation, my rules of thumb are:
1.  Don't trust removable media beyond 7-10 years (depending on your 
risk tolerance)
2.  For retention periods up to twice that, you may consider (with 
caveats) a single media migration
3  If you need to preserve records longer, print them to a microform

This is a big issue, with many dynamics.  Feel free to contact me offline.

Good luck,

Gordy
Gordon E.J. Hoke, CRM



On 4/15/2011 9:00 AM, Trussler, Karen wrote:
> <  We now keep the tapes for 60 days.>
>
> I have read with great interest and agree that back up tapes are not
> suitable records retention tools. What I am interested in asking the
> group is how do you keep your "permanent or long term" electronic
> records"?
> Karen

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