Storage, Handling, and Preservation Best Practices

Storage, Handling, and Preservation Best Practices

• Preservation time frame:– Short term– Medium term– Long term

Deterioration Of Magnetic Medium

• Komposisi media magnetik:– Magnetic recording material– Substrate– Binder

Magnetic Particle Instabilities• Partikel magnetik menyimpan informasi

berdasarkan perubahan medan magnet.

• Store the magnetic media in cooler temp

Substrate Deformation• Made of polyester film• Problem: Stress, aging, and improper

rewinding• Store tapes in constant temp preventing it

from expands and contracts

Binder Degradation• Binder menahan partikel magnetik pada tape

dan memfasilitasi tape transport.• Subject to Hydrolysis• Loss of lubricants

• Optical Media?

Recommended Storage

• Store magnetic tape in clean, controlled environment

• 65 degrees Fahrenheit plus minus 3 degrees• Humidity 40% plus minus 5%

• Two type of Storages:– Access– Archival

Key Feature Access Storage Archival Storage

Function Allow immediate access and playback

Preserves the media for as long as possible

Acclimation required prior to playback

No Yes

Media life expectancy At least 10 years Maximum allowed

Temp set point 60-70 F As low as 40 F

Humidity 25-50% As low as 20%

Temp Variations Max-min = 7 F Max-min = 7F

Humidity Variations Max-min = 20% Max-min = 10%

• Lower temp slows rate of decomposition• Lower humidity reduces binder hydrolysis

(tape), and corrosion (tape/optical)• Stable temp and humidity reduce stress • Removing dust and debris, prevent loss of

signal

Proper Care and Handling

• Four term for media renewal:– Reformatting (ex. From EDCDIC to ASCII)– Copying (ex. 3480 tape to 3480 tape)– Converting (ex. 3gp to mpg)– Migrating (wordstar to microsoft word)

Guide to the Care and Handling of Magnetic Tape

• Tape should be handled only in no smoking, no food, clean areas• Do not put tape on the floor• Do not drop or subject tape to sudden shock• Keep tape away from magnetic fields• Tape storage areas should be cool and dry• Store vertically• Use high quality cassettes, boxes and containers• Return tape to the containers when not used• Do not use general purpose adhesive tape• Minimize tape handling• Do not taouch the tape surface unless necessary• Clean the tape path thoroughly• Avoid contact with water

Preservation File Formats

• Many organization are turning to formats popular on the WWW

• HTML• XML• PDF

HTML• Wide avialability and potentioan for ongoing

support.XML• Extensible Markup Language.• Universal format for structured document and

data• Ex spreadsheet, address books, technical drawing,

etc

PDF• Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)• Universal format that preserves all of the

fonts, formatting, colors, and graphics.

• Four keys to maximizing the longevity of digital information:

1. Choose the most stable technology2. Choose the most stable format3. Store record in the best environment possible4. Implement proper care and handling

procedures

Other Preservation Best Practices

• European Union• 1996, organized jointly by the member States of the

European Union and the European Commision in Brussels.

• 4 stages organizations transition from paper to electronic document:1. The traditional office, based on paper2. A mixed office, paper and electronic3. The conversion of paper using scanner4. Entirely electronic office

State of New York• Result was a publication in January 1999

“Practical Tools for Electronic Records Management and Preservation”

• Team defined 3 functional requirements for electronic records:1. Record Capture2. Record Maintenance and Accessibility3. System Reliability

Digital Media Migration

• Typically, devices and media are replaced by better ones within a few years

• They then become obsolete, since for lack of financial incentives their production and maintenance are discontinued

• Soon, effort is required to connect the unsupported devices to up-to-date computers

• Ex. migrate punch cards containing sociological research data into a hardware and software independent format

Refreshing Digital Media• create a perfect replica without changing

either the format or a single bit of the content.• Refreshing is a preventive action taken in

order to avoid losses of information due to physical effects, like de-magnetization of tapes.

• Migration to Other Digital Media• copies data between media that are of

different physical, but of the same logical structure, is called replication. An example would be migration between a hard disk and a USB stick

• Migration to Nondigital Media• the most common and widely used strategies

for long-term preservation• Unfortunately, paper and microfilm are not

suitable for complex and compound documents such as databases, videos, or hypertexts. There is no direct way to transfer these data to nondigital media adequately

• same is true for spreadsheets and other computationally enhanced documents.

• Migration by Transformation• content migration• Transforms documents into standard formats

supported by current application programs.• compress the data in order to save storage

(using, for instance, a zip program).