Current Portable Solid-State Media

Materials saved to flash drives or other solid-state media in the last five years where the reader devices are still supported and can be integrated easily into hardware infrastructure.

Digital Species: Portable Media

Consensus Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previously: Endangered

Imminence of Action

Action is recommended within three years, detailed assessment within one year.

Significance of Loss

The loss of tools, data or services within this group would impact on people and sectors around the world.

Effort to Preserve | Inevitability

It would require a small effort to preserve materials in this group, requiring the application of proven tools and techniques.

Examples

USB memory sticks; flash cards in cameras; solid state portable hard disks.

‘Critically Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Poor storage conditions; encryption; digital rights management; lack of replication; lack of documentation; lack of periodic testing; lack of refreshment pathway; lack of access to readers; out of manufacturers’ warranty or no warranty; storage in paper files.

‘Vulnerable’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Regular review and testing; replication; refreshment plan; comprehensive documentation; high quality storage; regular maintenance of readers; multiple readers available.

2023 Review

The 2019 Jury introduced this entry to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. The 2021 Jury agreed with the entry’s assigned risk classification with no noted changes towards increased or reduced risk.

The 2023 Council agreed with the risk classification of Endangered with the overall risks remaining on the same basis as before (no change to the trend).

Additional Comments

This entry is highly dependent on who is looking after the portable media but made more difficult over time. The lack of granularity in the definition means that only general advice can be offered, such as to refresh media. In time, it may yet be more useful to split all storage media (maybe 100 items long) with an indication of how long these can be expected to last. In many cases, specialists can recover obsolete media, but the cost of employing them can become an aggravating condition.