What Is Data Preservation?
What is data preservation? It indicates the process for conserving and maintaining your data integrity and your data security can be ensured.
In the past, the collected data will be destroyed or lost over time because of the lack of advanced related techniques and consciousness. However, as time went by, more and more important scientific statistics disappeared, and people realized the limitations of their storage methods. They are looking for the right way out.
People invented the first digital data preservation storage solutions in the 1950s with lower costs and higher flexibility. Of course, with the evolution, more sophisticated calculations and arrangements were born.
Nowadays, data can be transcribed into units that carry information for each of them, and metadata plays a summarizing part for these data. To ensure data integrity and security, the key lies in the data storage location.
All in all, if you want to protect data from being lost or destroyed, find your data preservation solutions. It is also helpful to promote the reuse and progression of the data.
There are multiple major methods for data preservation:
- Digital preservation – This is the most common method used for data preservation and still is the most effective one.
- Archives – A collection of historical documents and records.
- Repositories – a storage place where data archives and holdings can be accessed. It includes three types – single-site repositories, multi-site repositories, and trusted digital repositories.
- Cyberinfrastructure – collections of information, technological and sociological, enable organizations to operate efficiently and securely in cyberspace.
Why Is Data Preservation Important?
You may think the above explanation is far away from your life and you don’t need to worry about something, such as data security, data breach, malicious attacks, etc. made for your country.
However, data loss has involved everyone in this computing world. Most people will spend most of their life trying to deal with digital data. Your mobile phone, laptop, iPad, etc. have been part of your body and those electronic devices are making every piece of you a digital visualization.
That can be scattered and easily accessible, urging people to find a way for data preservation on one hand and on another hand, give more significance to privacy and against cyber crimes.
Apart from the drawbacks of data preservation, it also helps us a lot in coping with data collection on natural hazards, natural resources, and landscapes. It is widely admitted that data preservation makes our real life more facilitated and efficient.
There are multiple reasons why data preservation is important:
Data loss prevention. Data preservation is a useful method to prevent data loss. For many years, this target has stimulated the progress of this technology.
Digital asset value. With the help of digital preservation, the data value can be better preserved. Or its value may diminish over time as similar assets are created.
Accessibility. Data preservation can make information remain accessible over time, even if the technology used to create it is no longer supported.
Cost saving. In the long run, it can help save large spending on the digitized data.
Historical record. Digital Preservation contributes to the overall goal of building an accurate historical record of our society and culture. With that, you can create a rich store of knowledge by collecting information from various channels to help better understand the truth.
Nowadays, the technology has been developed to the appliance of advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, robotic process automation, etc.
Besides, considering the complex and ongoing process data preservation requires, the above advantages sometimes can be uncertain. The possibility is that the data transfer among different storage media can cause data loss.
With data preservation, some further processes will waste resources on useless data. For example, when data migration occurs, large amounts of storage space will be occupied and it can be time-consuming to retrieve data from a long-term storage system especially if they are not well organized.
It is also noticed that hackers can seek ways to alter or delete your preserved contents.
Suggestion: Back up Your Data
As we mentioned above, data preservation can bring users a lot of benefits but at the same time, have some potential risks. To prevent your data loss and protect your data against cyber-attacks, we recommend that you backup data regularly.
You can use MiniTool ShadowMaker for free, this PC backup software. It allows you to perform system, disks & partitions and folders & file backup. With this backup, you can directly recover your lost data quickly and easily. Disk clone and file sharing are also available for you to use.
To perform automatic backup, you can go to Options > Schedule Settings to set the right model you want the task to perform.
Please download and install the program by clicking the button and you can get a 30-day free trial version.
MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Bottom Line:
Now, after reading this post, you may have understood the meaning of data preservation. For better data security, backup is your prime choice and MiniTool software will surprise you with its powerful functions.