Media matters: Microfilm outperforms disk archives

In this, the second in a two-part series on selecting the right media for long-term storage of business records, Paul Mullon, marketing director of Metrofile, examines the digital storage options available and comes to a surprising conclusion: microfilm is alive and well.

In the first article in this series, we established that electronic storage was not the optimal solution in every records management situation. For active documents, digital solutions are exactly what the doctor ordered. For archives, however, technology fails to meet organisations` long-term document storage needs.

To effectively meet their archival requirements, companies need to look past technological niceties to proven, reliable solutions, such as microfilm.

This move away from the latest technology is driven by the need for reliable long-term storage of information: Because technology changes so fast, storing archival data on optical or tape media often leaves the data inaccessible after as little as five years, even if the physical media is intact.

Fortunately, there are solutions to this longevity challenge; the two most realistic are discussed below.

If you want to make your IT department happy, this is the option to choose. Disk is cheap, which means companies can buy enough to create mirror copies of data (in addition to business continuity mirroring) that can be stored offsite for near realtime retrieval.

Unfortunately, the low cost of disk is a fallacy. While the costs of the physical disks may be minimal per megabyte, managing storage solutions generally costs between five to eight times as much as the hardware - especially when including backups in the cost equation. Then there is also the added complication that while disks may be able to store the information indefinitely, the software applications businesses use often change, necessitating a regular migration of data from one application to the next if stored documents are to be readable by the new program.

If followed to its natural conclusion, the disk option suggests that every five years all archived information must be copied off the old media, go through a conversion process to the new format, and then the "new" information must be written back to the new media. Not only is this immensely time-consuming, but the risk of losing information in the process is simply too high. And then there`s the question of being able to verify that the new data is a genuine replica of the original, certifiable in a court of law.

Hardly the ideal scenario for a business. So, while disk is an IT vendor`s dream, it is an archivist`s nightmare.

There is a solution, however, that satisfies the demands of both IT and the records management fraternity. In this solution, documents entering the company in paper format are scanned (digitised) and indexed in the normal manner, and then they enter the operational processes of the business, providing all the immediate, active benefits. Then, at the same time as being written to the repository, the images and associated index information are written to a new generation of high-quality microfilm. The microfilm is stored off-site as an archive copy (providing the additional benefit of disaster recovery).

On request, the microfilm is placed in a digitiser and the image of a particular record sent back to the document imaging system the company uses. There will therefore be no compatibility issues to worry about and the archive copy does not change locations, reducing the risk of losing it.

Using the latest high-speed scanning technology instead of film makes the capture process much faster. The scanning software can also provide additional functionality in cleaning up the image, leaving a very high-quality image available well into the future - the latest generation microfilm has been designed to last for hundreds of years.

Long-term microfilm storage also removes the need for data migrations and the associated costs. In addition, microfilm has been generally accepted worldwide as a legitimate archive media and is accepted in most courts. It is also not subject to the same pressures of technology obsolescence as IT solutions.

I would never suggest ignoring what technology has to offer the records management industry, but one must be realistic and look to solutions that best suit the business need. Some organisations need to keep information for indefinite periods of time. The best way to achieve this is to provide an archival solution that has stood the test of time, is cost-effective, legally admissible and offers the benefits that digital solutions offer without the negatives. Sometimes the latest and greatest technology simply can`t better a less trendy solution that simply works: microfilm is alive and well in the 21st century.