Is CD/DVD media quality sufficient to replace paper for Long-term Archiving?
As you can expect, we would belong in the camp that supports the archival of data on optical media like CD and DVD. Indeed taking paper offsite will limit the risks of damage to it, but still paper stays susceptable to fire, insects and bad environmental conditions. Storage of paper in conditions that eliminate these risks is not only expensive, but also very unaccessible. Keeping paper off-site means that you are dependant on others to retrieve information, and you are limited to searches for labels put on the outside of the storage compartment. A time lag is unavoidable in this case (also if you go in yourself) and there is a reasonable risk that information can not be found, either by errors in the labelling, or inaccurancy in the search criteria. Storing information digitally with todays technology, will allow for easy access, searching by content from behind a PC and fast retrieval of files for anybody that requires it. For instance your signed documents would be scanned and subse
