Gordon, I would like to suggest:

- all electronic media, even inactive, is best stored on regularly backed
up servers. It doesn't have to be tier 1 storage - the appropriate tier can
be based on activity.

- Data sets/collections should be accessioned into an inactive tracking
system (digital repository) when their level of inactivity warrants it.
This provides content, provenance and disposition control (something Ia
typical IT data center either does not provide, or provides poorly,
particularly as the data becomes less and less active). Where the data is
stored really doesn't matter: some in the digital repository, others might
be part of an archival data store associated with systems like SAP. What
matters is the element of control and maintenance.

- Accessioning data should include, among other things, format and cycle
review information. Cycle review should be based on the uniqueness of the
format (I would suggest no sooner than 3 years, no later than 10), and the
degree to which the given digital object is separated from the maintenance
of the system in which it was created.

- I would associate such information on the accessioning level - retention
schedules may apply across a variety of digital/analog media.

-- 
Dwight Wallis, CRM
Multnomah County Records Management Program
1620 SE 190th Avenue
Portland, OR 97233
ph: (503)988-3741
fax: (503)988-3754
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