Options for storing digital information include choices of media on which the information is to be stored, and decisions regarding the formats in which it will be stored. General information about preserving access to information on physical format digital materials is available on the PADI site, as well as more specific information about preserving access to material stored on optical disks and magnetic media . Strategies such as storing identical material in multiple locations and regularly backing up will provide some protection against loss due to media failure or human error. While choice of standard storage media can ameliorate the effects of technological obsolescence, inevitably, old storage media will be superseded and migration , or some other preservation strategy will be necessary to preserve access to the material. Little used off-line material may be stored on magnetic tape, while the enhanced accessibility of disk storage may be chosen for high demand online material.
Digital information stored in compressed forms requires less space and thus reduces storage costs.
DigiPaper enables documents to be disseminated with the formatting fixed in place, as intended by the creator. This article presents the current status of a project to capture and preserve electronic documents published in the Finnish Internet. The article describes the policy used to select the material to be included in the collection, the capturing process, the storage technology and accessing method. Electronic documents are not yet a part of the Legal Deposit in Finland, but the revision of the Act is going on and the aim is to also preserve electronic publications for the coming generations. By choosing a rich storage format, such as SGML, the need for migration can be minimised.