Document storage: types of storage media and their relevance

There is no way to stop the creation of the documents. This refers to not only the paper based documents but also to the electronically generated papers. While the concerns of the environment have reduced the use of the paper based documents to some extent, the need for the proper management of the paper based as well as other documents has not reduced in importance. In fact, the growth in the number of organizations as well as the in the volume of documents has accentuated the need of proper document storage.
The document storage systems are devised to ensure that the documents retain their importance for a specific period of time; are protected from damage, theft and tampering; and, can also be retrieved for use as and when desired. Therefore, the storage of documents is not just to keep these safe and secure for a long time but also to seek document retrieval at the opportune time.
For the online document storage, the documents need to be kept in the digital format. The electronic documents are in the digital format but the paper based ones are first converted to the digital format. This is achieved by using the document imaging systems like the scanners or even the digital cameras can also be used to take high resolution pictures of these documents. However, it is the scanners which are used for this purpose.
After the conversion into the digital format, the file or the document is ready to be stored in the different media like the micro-films, DVD/CD or even in the remote server based storage device. The choice of the different media of storage is directly related to their likely use spread over the different regions or areas and the frequency of their use within the organization. Therefore, if some documents are to be used by people across different braches of an organization, then the online document storage medium is considered to be the best medium of storage. The people from different branches can be give due access to these documents and the same can be accessed, edited and saved from the remote location. This obviates the need for the physical movement of the documents which could be less secure and more time consuming. Yet another benefit is that the heavy electronic document files which are difficult to be sent from the emails or the non-physical media, can easily be uploaded to the hosting servers and the same can then be used by the others.

For the storage devices which are to be kept in the physical format, the storage facilities also need to be well maintained. These shall be properly indexed, systematically arranged on the basis of topical matter or even on the basis of the dates or other criteria so that the document retrieval can be done easily. While easy retrieval is desirable, it is also desired that only the authorized people are allowed. So, a proper authentication and verifications system shall be in place to provide access only to the authorized people.