archiving
Archiving is the storage of data on a storage medium other than the primary storagemedium. This data storage, which is used for data backup, is usually done on mass storage devices, tape drives, tape libraries and Automated Tape Libraries( ATL).
Archiving involves making a copy of one or more files or the entire data set and storing it on a durable and cheaper storage medium for a specified period of time. The archive can be stored according to the archiving date, file name, keywords, persons, description or many others. Archiving programs take care of the storage of the data files but also of the registration of the archived files so that it is possible to retrieve and recall the files from the different storage media. File formats for archiving files include PDF/A, which is standardized by the International Standards Organization( ISO), and the XML Paper Specification(XPS) developed by Microsoft.
Data archiving is subject to a legal retention requirement, which specifies the type of documents to be archived and their retention period.
The difference between archiving and data protection is that archiving involves the creation of specific archive copies that cannot be overwritten by more current data and cannot be deleted without being requested to do so.
The archiving of data, like the creation of backups, is system- and user-controlled. If data has to be archived for decades or longer, this is referred to as long-term archiving.