Courts must develop and implement migration plans that keep pace with technology. Before a format becomes extinct, records must be moved onto whatever is the standard medium at the time. This is an inconvenience, but it s not the end of the world. There will almost always be a way to make the transfer. It may be more expensive than it would have been if done in a timely matter, but it will normally be possible, if the records are deemed valuable enough.
Some people worry that the life span of electronic media is too short.
This objection confuses working storage with archival storage. Court files get their heaviest use in the few years after a case is filed. During this period, they need to be kept readily accessible. We know compact disks last 20 years, at least. When records no longer need to be at hand on short notice, they can be transferred to some still more long-lasting medium for archival storage. .