1. Government Information Preservation Working Group
December 16, 2003
Fred Byers
NIST

2. Obsolete and Endangered Tapes Source: 2003 Cornell University Library, Digital Preservation Management
1/2" 9-track Reel Storage capacity: Standard bpi
recording densities of bpi. It is estimated that over 90%
of the world's data mine
is still held on 9-Track
DC6150 QIC-150 Storage capacity: 150Mb Approximate dates in use:
IBM 3480 cartridge Storage capacity: 200Mb Approximate dates in use:
DC600A QIC-24 Storage capacity: 60Mb Approximate dates in use:
DC9135 QIC tape 1/4" Storage capacity: 1.35G Approximate dates in use:
G2000 (DC2000 compatible) Storage capacity: 40Mb Approximate dates in use:
Sony 8mm data cartridge QG-112M Storage capacity: 2.5-5GB Approximate dates in use: present
Fujifilm DG-90M DDS cartridge Storage capacity: 2.0 GB Approximate dates in use:
1993-present
4mm DAT (TDK DC4-120 DDS2) Storage capacity: GB Approximate dates in use: present
Fujifilm DLTtape III XT Storage capacity: 15G Approximate dates in use: present
4mm DAT (Verbatim DDS3 125M) Storage capacity: 12 GB Approximate dates in use: present
Fred Byers
NIST

3. Obsolete and Endangered Disks Source: 2003 Cornell University Library, Digital Preservation Management
8" floppy disk  (Radio Shack TRS80 Model II ) Storage capacity: 509,184 bytes Approximate dates in use:
Late
5.25" floppy disk Storage capacity: 100KB-1.2MB Approximate dates in use:
1972-mid1980s
3 1/2" disk Storage capacity: 400K to 2.8 MB Approximate dates in use:
1982-present
Sony 12" Magneto Optical Disk
(WDM-3DL0) Storage capacity: 3.2G Double-sided (WORM)
Approximate dates in use:
Sony Magneto Optical Disk
EDM-600B Storage capacity: 600Mb
Dual-Sided rewritable
Approximate dates in use:
Iomega 100 Zip disk Storage capacity: 100Mb Approximate dates in use:
1995-present
CD-ROM disc Storage capacity: 650Mb Approximate dates in use:
1984-present
Fred Byers
NIST

4. Digital Storage Media Timeline
User-Removable
Digital Storage Media Timeline
Paper Magnetic Magnetic Magnetic Optical Optical Optical ???
(Infrared (Red (Blue/Violet Laser) Laser) Laser)
Punch Cassette  Floppy ” Floppy CD DVD **
Card Tape Disk Disk Disc Disc Disc ???
l______________________l_____________________l_____________________l________________________l__
? Future
** Blu-Ray Disc, Advanced Optical Disc, or other.
Timeline illustrates the changes in common “removable” storage media Source: Technical Advisory Service for Images (TASI) 2002, extended
Fred Byers
NIST

5. Digital Preservation Options
Duplication (tape to tape)
Media migration (tape to disc, disc to tape)
Digital encoding format (old-to-new)
Emulation (simulation of previous software)
Hardware/software and OS preservation
Outsourcing
Wait and see, deal with it later
Convert to analog (i.e. print documents, microfilm)
Fred Byers
NIST

6. Selecting Storage Media for Long-Term Preservation
An example scorecard, comparing some common media types
1 (does not meet the criterion) to 3 (fully meets the criterion).
As a general rule, no medium which scores less than 12 should be considered.
Media CD-R DVD-R Zip Disk 3.5” Magnetic Disk DLT DAT
Longevity
Capacity
Viability
Obsolescence
Cost
Susceptibility
Total
Source: THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, Digital Preservation Guidance Note 2: Selecting storage media for long-term preservation, June 19,
Fred Byers
NIST

7. Strategy Preserve what?  To what?  Now what? Future access
Digital Preservation
Strategy
Preserve what?
 To what?
 Now what?
Future access
Fred Byers
NIST

8. Considering CDs, DVDs? What’s to consider? Life expectancy
Quality variations
Interoperability/compatibility
Robustness
Fred Byers
NIST

9. Factors that affect Disc LE
Type
Manufacturing quality
Condition of the disc before recording
Quality of the disc recording
Handling and maintenance
Environmental conditions
Fred Byers
NIST

10. Maximizing Disc Usefulness
Care and Handling
Consider environmental influences
Physical handling
Storage conditions
Labeling
Cleaning
Fred Byers
NIST

11. CD, DVD Landscape CD DVD CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM DVD-R General,
VCD
CD-ROM
CD-DA, CD-I, CD+G,
DVD
DVD-R General,
DVD-R Authoring,
DVD-RW,
DVD+R, DVD+RW,
DVD-ROM
DVD-Video
DVD-Audio
DVD-RAM,
Fred Byers
NIST

12. CD vs DVD Construction
Fred Byers
NIST

13. Double-Sided DVDs
Fred Byers
NIST

14. Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs
A Guide for Librarians and Archivists
Co-Published by NIST and CLIR
NIST Publication
One-Page Reference from the Guide
CLIR Publication
Fred Byers
NIST