Do you have a sense of your storage needs?

Overview: All digital content lives in some kind of computer storage, whether internal or external. One of the objectives of digital preservation is to ensure that digital content is preserved (understandable, readable, available) across generations of technology. There have been organizations preserving digital content - in particular national archives and data archives with a mandate to do so - since computers could store content beginning in the 1960s.

In addition to providing a practical and engaging resource to assist TDL members and the broader DP community to preserve their digital collections, ensuring that TDL members are able to make the best use of the DP storage services and options that TDL provides has been a motivation for the TDL Decision Tree partnership with the DPM Workshop. See online information about S3 and glacier storage options and contact TDL for more information and guidance.

The Digital Preservation Storage Criteria is an emerging community standard for DP Storage users, providers, designers, and others. In the context of the TDL Decision Tree project, the DP Storage Criteria provide a community-based resource to assist TDL members and the broader DP community to understand DP storage and to make optimal use of available storage options.

The possible uses of the Criteria include (excerpt from current version):

• Evaluating and comparing Preservation Storage solutions

• Determining gap areas in existing Preservation Storage implementations

• Informing more detailed requirements for Preservation Storage

• As a component of instructional materials on digital preservation

• To seed discussions with IT and other relevant parts of an organization about Preservation Storage

• To seed discussions within the digital preservation field on Preservation Storage

What is Preservation Storage? This excerpt from the DP Storage Criteria addresses the scope of DP Storage:

^{“Preservation Storage can be considered, in part, within the context of the ISO OAIS Reference Model (CCSDS, 2015). In this context, Preservation Storage covers the same functions as the OAIS functional entity “archival storage”, as well as the parts of other OAIS functional entities which are needed to store, maintain in storage, and retrieve from storage, Archival Information Packages or AIPs (Zierau & McGovern, 2014). For example:}

^{Parts of “Preservation Planning” concerned with monitoring technology for storage and bit preservation solutions and practices, media migrations, agreement changes, and the organization and technology needed to fulfil preservation policies at the storage level; and}

^{Parts of “Data Management” that ensure a relationship between preserved data and identification of the data (metadata); and}

^{Parts of “Administration” concerned with policies and standards that relates to preservation at the storage level; and}

^{Parts of “Ingest” concerned with the coordination of updates of different data replica at the storage level.}

^{In addition to the context provided by the ISO OAIS Reference Model, Preservation Storage can be considered in terms of:}

^{The evolving technological environment and supporting organization; and}

^{The evolving set of common understandings about digital preservation.”}

How do your digital content workflows help you to define your DP storage needs? The example provided for mapping your Digital Content Workflows depicts your lifecycle storage spaces, including DP Storage, that support your workflow steps.

This diagram is an example of your digital content workflows connect with DP storage and the types of storage locations that might be part of your DP Storage Landscape.

How much storage will you need? Your Digital Content Review (DCR) results should help you to identify the types and relative size of the storage that will be needed for your digital content you have selected to be preserved. Always remember to opt digital content into your DP program. Selecting digital content to preserve carries long-term requires long-term commitments of resources - human, technological, and funding.

How do you determine your storage requirements and level of DP services required? Adopting a Levels of Digital Preservation Commitment metric will help you to right-size your DP storage needs for your digital collections. There are requirements to consider for your digital content that will inform the decisions you make about the DP storage you will need. For example. if you have digital content that is regulated, confidential, or embargoed; or your have archival content with rules that must be adhered regulating when records can be released for use, you will need to ensure that these requirements can be met by a storage provider and/or using your local storage options.

Question for your team/organization: How does TDL DP Storage address your needs? TDL members contact TDL for more information and assistance. 

Sources: Informed by the development and launch of Comprehensive Digital Preservation Services (CDPS) using approaches developed by and for the Digital Preservation Management (DPM) Workshop: DP Management Tools. See the resources below for additional information, examples, and current information. 

Related Resources:

• Digital Preservation Storage Criteria

• DP Storage Criteria Use Examples -Infrastructure Design: MIT Example

• Deciding to Decide - a 2021 article by the DP Storage Criteria team about using the Criteria

• Supporting the Analysis and Audit of Collaborative OAIS’s Using an Outer OAIS-Inner OAIS (OO-IO) Model by Eld Zierau and Nancy McGovern, 2014 iPres Proceedings p. 209-218.

_{This is a joint initiative between TDL Digital Preservation Services and the Digital Preservation Management (DPM) Workshop and Global Archivist LLC. Dr. Nance McGovern 2024.}

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