Wladimir P. Tarasow, Dlaczego są potrzebne kopie bezpieczeństwa?, w: Archeion, t. 113, wyd. NDAP, Warszawa 2012, s. 113. Wydawnictwo dostępne w postaci elektronicznej na stronie NDAP.
"Wladimir P. Tarasow, Why Are Backup Copies of Documents Necessary? Archival documents
constitute important information resources of each country and society. A piece of information
included in lost documents may only be appropriately restored if we make copies of documents
beforehand and store them properly. For this purpose, a backup collection of documents is created.
Up to the end of the 1970s, it was common in the Russian Federation to save collections in the form
of microfilms. The result of the process was that there were also backup copies of documents which
were not particularly valuable and significant. Since the 1980s, such activities became more sophisticated,
because only documents of particular value or significance were selected to be copied. The
following six criteria were decisive: creation date, value of the information included in a document,
legal force and authenticity of a document, position of the individual or legal person being the author
of the document, the author (and the addressee) of the document, special (palaeographic, artistic, etc.)
properties of the document, physical condition of documents and the frequency of their use (however,
the most important criterion is the specific value of a particular document).
Nowadays, when IT technologies are used in all areas of human activity more and more widely,
the issue of using them in order to digitally back up documents is a current problem. Digitisation
methods make it possible to produce a copy which is better than the original document. It solves the
problem of copying a document of poor contrast of colours or a document where the text is unclear
or hardly visible. It also gives the opportunity to copy information many times without using an original
document. In contrast to microfilms, digital data storage devices have several characteristics
which give them an advantage, namely, they make it possible to: have a greater density of recorded
information; quickly find the information recorded and access it directly; copy information many
120 WLADIMIR P. TARASOW
times obtaining copies of good quality each time; deliver recorded information (without any damage
to its quality) electronically and share it with Internet users. Although the advantages are clear, digitisation
of archival documents is regarded as a tool for creating a utility collection rather than backup
materials. The reasons for the situation are as follows:
1. Experts doubt whether it is possible to store information saved on today’s data storage
devices for a long time;
2. Rapid development of digital technologies results in quick evolution of data storage devices,
software, recording and reading devices, so there is a real problem whether there will be
a possibility of accessing data stored electronically in the future;
3. The software enabling access to digital data storage devices should also be backed up, similarly
to the information documented thanks to it;
4. The necessity to regularly save copies stored for a long time on new data storage devices is
a serious problem regarding the reliability of backup copies.
It should be noted that microfilms reproduce a given document and save its external appearance,
and this can be found out in any circumstances — there is no need to use any devices in order to read
information. Moreover, it is more difficult to destroy a microfilm than a digital data storage device."
Źródło: Archeion, t. 113.
