Computer help: How do you future proof your digitally archived documents?
- 5/1/09 10:39 AM
Standards?
by PsychGen - 5/1/09 5:42 PM In reply to: Stick to standards by rbsjrxWhere we are going, there are no standards...
Use PDF/A
by FourWheelVibe - 5/1/09 6:21 PM In reply to: Stick to standards by rbsjrxPDF/A is the best approach for long term archival. It is an ISO standard and the format used by the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The advantage to PDF/A is that it will retain the formatting and presentation of the existing documents in a format that is meant for long term archival - 100+ years. If you save the text in ASCII you lose all formatting.
The only minor disadvantage to PDF/A is that you must embedded all fonts which can make the files large. There are some licensing issues with certain fonts that you also need to be aware of (some font producers prohibit embedding). Aside from being to archive textual information in PDF/A you can also use it to store graphic and image formats. There are a number of tools on the market that enable creation PDF/A compliant documents.
For more info on PDF/A look it up on wikipedia.
Raw is not a standard
by smcilree - 5/1/09 7:14 PM In reply to: Stick to standards by rbsjrxI am in complete agreement with Rbsjrx when it comes to sticking with standard data formats for archival purposes. However, you need to be aware that RAW formats for digital images are proprietary to each camera manufacture and widely different. The closest to a standard RAW format is the Digital Negative (DNG). Although this format was developed by Adobe, it has been made freely available to all software and camera makers. In addition, Adobe offers software for no charge which can be used to convert the various camera RAW formats to DNG. Today, not only Adobe image editing software can handle DNG, but that of most other software makers as well. Finally, since the introduction of the DNG specification, many cameras have been introduced using it as their RAW format.
As a standard which RAW format do you suggest.
by GENEMETZ - 5/1/09 8:02 PM In reply to: Stick to standards by rbsjrxDon’t different Cameras give you different RAW formats?
Tiff?
by inkindotpro - 5/2/09 4:22 AM In reply to: Stick to standards by rbsjrxI don't think of tiff as standard file format for this century...jpeg coma and gho togather?...images...oh iMagiffs...
tiff
by suprememouser - 5/2/09 2:18 PM In reply to: Tiff? by inkindotproLibraries use TIFF
Hire a Part-time Archivist
by tonyny77 - 4/24/09 7:57 PM In reply to: How do you future proof your digitally archived documents? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The good doctor clearly has a vast array of material and the set-up for his question emphasizes his intention to keep this information for a long, long time.
You didn't express much concern regarding media survivability/data integrity. But, naturally, these should be great concerns as well. Suffice it to say that no storage medium is perfect, with each having its own strengths and frailties. Each medium type you use — magnetic tape, photographs on paper, hard disks, optical media, etc. — has different survivability probabilities and care requirements. Clearly, you must become familiar with each and prepare accordingly.
As for formats becoming obsolete, this is also a continuing problem that appears to have no end in sight. To deal with this, I'd strongly suggest you take a careful inventory of all your data types and list every storage format you use: Word document, Excel spreadsheet, PNG/TIF/JPG graphic format scans, magnetic-tape-based audio/video recordings, etc. In some cases, knowing the type might not be enough; you may also need to note the format versions involved. Then carefully determine the current state/popularity of that format and assess its future prospects.
For example, if you had a collection of reel-to-reel audio tapes, and if reel-to-reel decks were losing popularity and getting increasingly hard to find, clearly that would indicate it's time to transcribe your tape collection to another viable format.
Now, if you have as much material as I've imagined, and if the variety of your collection is itself a challenge, then hiring a professional may indeed be your best option. As my subject suggested hiring "a part-time archivist," it may have seemed like a joke, but if your collection is THAT important, if you have as MUCH data as I think, and if you indeed need your data to survive for DECADES and beyond, then saying you need professional help with this would certainly be no joke.
Good luck!
Storing Documents
by saadhusain - 4/24/09 8:36 PM In reply to: How do you future proof your digitally archived documents? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
1. Reduce. Do you really need DOS 1.0 programs? If so for what?
2. Categorize. What's the point of having oodles of information if you can't find it quickly. Make sure with every format that you save, there is a program that is also saved that can read it.
3. Offload. No matter what technology you have, it is prone to failure. Hard drives do bad. CD/DVD/BRD disks go bad, get scratched, lost etc. Best is to save in the cloud and let someone else worry about backups. Here are some sources to get you started:
http://www.driveway.com/
http://www.docstoc.com/
http://www.idrive.com/
Simple answer, not so simple question
by rbsjrx - 4/24/09 9:57 PM In reply to: Storing Documents by saadhusain"1. Reduce. Do you really need DOS 1.0 programs? If so for what?"
I don't presume to know why someone might want an old document. Of course, it's good to think of such things, but the question is valid even if the motivation behind it isn't.
"2. Categorize. What's the point of having oodles of information if you can't find it quickly. Make sure with every format that you save, there is a program that is also saved that can read it."
Good advice, but again, given the scope and nature of the question it's non sequitur. Most importantly, what if the program that saved or can read it can't be run? I have some old files on 9-track tapes which were generated on hardware you can only find in museums by software no one today has heard of.
Never assume that proprietary applications or OS's will survive indefinitely. The best you can do is to insure that the data survives in a format that's likely to have some support far into the future. That gets us back to standards and away from proprietary solutions.
"3. Offload. No matter what technology you have, it is prone to failure. Hard drives do bad. CD/DVD/BRD disks go bad, get scratched, lost etc. Best is to save in the cloud and let someone else worry about backups..."
Again, this is good advice, bit it still skirts the issue. The question wasn't about media, but file formats.
The most survivable media according to US Defense Department
by saadhusain - 4/24/09 9:58 PM In reply to: Storing Documents by saadhusainBack when I was working at Hughes Aircraft, I came upon a metallic punched tape machine. It writes and reads metallic punched tape which are not subject to fire or electromagnetic discharge or nuclear radiation. That's probably the ultimate but impractical for most of us.
Impractical, yes...
by rbsjrx - 4/24/09 10:07 PM In reply to: The most survivable media according to US Defense Department by saadhusain...and it still doesn't answer the original question!
Upon death . . .
by JacqJ2u - 4/24/09 8:57 PM In reply to: How do you future proof your digitally archived documents? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I wonder what happens to your archive when you die? (I don't have this service)
Ozymandias
by ajrozsa - 4/24/09 9:35 PM In reply to: Upon death . . . by JacqJ2uOzymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Upon death...
by rbsjrx - 4/24/09 9:58 PM In reply to: Upon death . . . by JacqJ2u...it all becomes someone else's problem!
rackem up
by DADSGETNDOWN - 5/1/09 6:34 PM In reply to: Upon death... by rbsjrxuseless post, rackem up.
Delete it, just like this one.
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