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Materials routinely copied or backed up to an independently managed, off site data storage facility and able to be restored under contractual terms |
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Group: Storage |
Trend: New Entry |
Consensus Decision |
Added to List: 2019 |
Last update: New Entry |
Previous category: New Entry |
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 many people and sectors |
Effort to Preserve It would require a small effort to preserve materials in this group, requiring the application of proven tools and techniques. |
Examples Remote network storage provided by a third-party service under contract, such as DropBox, Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Dell EMC, Google Cloud Platform, Google Drive, IBM, Intel, Rackspace, Iron Mountain, SAP and others |
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‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions Encryption; lack of routine maintenance; lack of storage replication; over-dependence on single supplier; insufficient documentation; lack of local alternative; political or commercial instability; overly aggressive compression; poor information security; lack of integrity-checking; lack of strategic investment; lack of migration plan; lack of exit strategy; unenforceable penalties; unstable pricing; unpredictable removal costs |
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‘Lower Risk’ in the Presence of Good Practice Backup to different technology; backup to diverse locations; documentation of assets; integrity checking; preservation planning; export functionality; resilient to hacking; version control; resilient funding; technology watch; enforceable contract; disaster planning and documentation, stable pricing; budgeted removal costs. |
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2019 Review The judges introduced this entry to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. |
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Additional Jury Comments The history of digital preservation suggests that the risk of vendors going out of business or shutting down services is the key issue here, over and above any specific technical solutions or risks. See also: Digital Preservation Coalition (2016) ‘Storage’ in Digital Preservation Handbook (Second Edition), online at https://dpconline.org/handbook/organisational-activities/storage |