Module 2: Part 5
Storing Digital Materials
As we mentioned earlier in this module, we strongly encourage you to keep multiple copies of your digital records and distribute them in different locations. Specifically, we encourage you to think about local, cloud-based, and social media-based storage solutions. Each of these options comes with its own set of pros and cons.
Local storage gives you the advantage of having the most control. You can choose the physical location of your digital storage devices, such as laptops, flash drives, or hard drives. Remember, your copies for long-term storage should be held on a different device than your working copies. In other words, try to keep a local copy of your records in addition to and separate from the copy on your personal computer.
Generally, we suggest that you select a cool and dry space, such as a closet or a basement. We also encourage you to consider potential threats as you decide on a location. These are often dependent on your location and personal circumstances. For instance, do you live in an area prone to fires or tornadoes? If so, where would your storage devices be the most protected against those threats? You may also consider other personal circumstances, such as whether you have pets or young children. Remember, optical devices such as CDs and DVDs have an average life span of 1-2 years and are not reliable storage media. Hard drives and flash drives may last 3-5 years. This also means that you need to periodically migrate your local backups to fresh devices.
You can simply copy and paste groups of folders and files, thus creating a backup of your computer on an external drive. In addition, you can explore the options available through your Operative System to backup-your computer on the cloud, and to an external drive.
Cloud-based solutions offer the advantage of remote access 24/7. Thus, updates to the operating system on your computer or whether your computer crashes will not impact your records. Furthermore, some cloud storage services are available free of charge. The downside is that you do not control where the information is stored. Should someone get a hold of your access information, your records could potentially be accessed without your consent. Because of this, we also encourage you to follow best practices on information privacy, such as creating strong passwords and updating them periodically. Furthermore, while the low cost makes cloud-storage services accessible, the downside is that such services may require you to log in periodically to preserve your credentials, change their terms of service in ways that compromise the privacy of your information, or simply go out of business. Because of this, we encourage you to periodically log in to your cloud-based solutions and keep in the loop of updates to their services. Additionally, think about cloud storage services as complements to your local copies rather than a solution on its own to your preservation needs.
Social media services share many of the advantages and limitations of cloud-based services. In addition, you can take advantage of social media privacy settings to circulate your records. The downside is that social media platforms tend to downgrade the information of your digital records. Platforms do this to ease the browsing experience because downgraded files are easier to load, thus preventing latency issues for their users. In practice, this means that your high-resolution photos (among other file types) may be available at a much lower resolution, and metadata may also be removed.
What is metadata and why is it important? All digital files include embedded information about the file itself. This is called metadata (as in, data about the data). You can see most of this information by looking at the properties for a given file. The basic information may include the type of file, where it is located, the size, when it was created, last accessed, and last saved. It may also include additional, more detailed information about the authors of the file, the location where the file was created, the subject, and more. Digital photographs may also include the geo-location of where the image was taken, what day it was taken, and the photographic settings used (e.g., camera type, f-stop, etc.). In addition to compressing an image to reduce its file size, many social media platforms remove the metadata. These are very small bites of data, but over billions of files, it quickly adds up to a lot of storage space.
The International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) regularly tests social media sites to see which ones remove metadata—and which data. See their website for specific information about the different platforms and the most recent test results.
Finally, we encourage you to read the terms of service of your platforms. The business model of social media is based on running ads. Facebook, for instance, shares aggregated demographic and interest information with advertisers. While the company claims to not sell your content, other platforms may. Thus, when considering social media platforms as part of your preservation strategy, we suggest that you read their terms of service.
As you can see, alternatives for storing digital records are broad, and each comes with its own set of pros and cons. Digital storing options also require you to consider privacy issues. Digital information tends to be frailer and requires more maintenance than physical ones. Still, it offers advantages in terms of volume and accessibility. In general, we suggest that you combine digital and analog forms of storage to strengthen your preservation plans.
Selecting What works best for you
After going through this module, you may have realized that organizing and storing your personal military records requires time and money. You need to set a time to check on your records periodically. You may also need to invest in resources such as storage devices, both physical (e.g., boxes, binders) and digital (e.g., flash drives, hard drives, online subscriptions). We encourage you to take a moment to first determine your priorities. Take stock of what you have. Then, classify your records by order of importance. In other words, decide what you want to preserve most urgently.
These first steps will likely take longer but will pay off in the long term. Keeping up an organized archive will consume less time and energy than the initial compilation, storing, classification, and sorting would take. To ensure the long-term preservation of your records, we encourage you to periodically review your collection. For your digital information, update formats as needed. For instance, keep your word documents in their original format plus a copy in the most recent format (e.g., doc and docx, respectively). A good alternative for archiving electronic records is the PDF/A format. PDF/A is a kind of pdf format that prohibits some forms of inscription such as linking fonts or encryption. You can also use Libra Office, a free software alternative to Microsoft Office, to convert files to PDF/A.
Make sure files are not corrupted. As you mentioned before, digital storage devices have a lifetime of 3-5 years so remember to update those periodically. Also, make sure that cloud copies are still accessible. This means ensuring that your logging credentials are up to date (some sites may require you to change your credentials periodically) and that your cloud services are still active.
To help you in this process, we suggest you consider the following questions:
How much time can I devote to the initial sorting and classifying of my information?
How much money do I need for my preservation plan? If my budget is not enough, how do I modify the plan to adjust it to my needs or raise funds to meet my goals?
What technologies am I comfortable using? Is there any additional tool I would like/need to learn to implement my plan?
How much physical space can I devote to storage? Is that enough for my analog records and digital devices?
How often can I reasonably run the periodic check-ups on my collection?
How do I plan to migrate records across digital storage devices?
You can download a handout to help you identify the best process for you here.
END OF MODULE 2
Congratulations, you’ve reached the end of the second module. Before moving on, click the link below to test what you’ve learned so far. Additionally, you can complete the Module 2 worksheet and continue working on your inventory by downloading the file here.