Materials routinely copied or backed up to locally managed data storage facility and able to be restored under institutional service arrangements.

Group: Storage

Trend in 2021:

Unanimous Decision

Added to List: 2019

Previous classification: Vulnerable

Trend in 2022:

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

Institutional or departmental network storage and institutional data centers based on technologies such as (NAS) Network Attached Storage, (RAID) Redundant Array of Independent Disks, (SAN) Storage Area Networks, JBOD (Just a bunch of disks), SPAN and related

‘Endangered’ in the Presence of Aggravating Conditions

Encryption; lack of routine maintenance; lack of storage replication; over-dependence on single supplier, technology or technician; insufficient documentation; single point of failure; political or commercial interference; failure of dependencies (e.g., power supply, controller software); overly aggressive compression; poor information security; lack of integrity-checking; lack of strategic investment; lack of warranty; unenforceable warranty, encryption.

‘Lower Risk’ in the Presence of Good Practice

Backup to different technology; backup to diverse locations; documentation of assets; integrity checking; preservation planning; refreshment planning; export functionality; resilient to hacking; selection and appraisal criteria; version control; resilient funding; technology watch; enforceable warranty; disaster planning and documentation.

2021 Jury Review

This entry was added in 2019 to ensure that the range of media storage is properly assessed and presented. The 2021 Jury agreed with the Vulnerable classification with no trend towards greater or reduced risk.

Additional Comments

See also: Digital Preservation Coalition (2016) ‘Storage’ in Digital Preservation Handbook (Second Edition), online at https://dpconline.org/handbook/organizational-activities/storage.