ARCHIVING ELIMINATES THE RISK OF LOSS

Microfilm Backup

Digital images are comprised of magnetically stored 1s and 0s, they are susceptible to alteration or information loss due to electrical charge, static charge, power loss, power surge, electromagnetic pulse or bit rot.  Microfilm is an analog storage that is not affected by these issues.  Digital images can be transmitted daily or weekly via FTP and backed up to archival quality microfilm.

We utilize FujiFilm products for their superiority. We perform bi-monthly Methylene Blue Verification to confirm a 500 year life expectancy rating (LE500).

Microfilm Inspection

ANSI and AIIM standards recommend inspecting microfilm every 5 years for Vinegar Syndrome and Redox spots. We inspect your film over a light box for redox spots and insert A-D test strips to properly identify Vinegar Syndrome levels 0-3. We can update your County’s inventory with the results or provide a new inventory as an online Google Doc or Microsoft Excel file.

Microfilm Duplicating

All acetate microfilm will eventually get Vinegar Syndrome and become unusable. We duplicate acetate base microfilm to polyester base microfilm, thus preserving images from further Vinegar Syndrome in the future.

Microfilm Brown Toning

We have one of the few labs in America that can chemically protect polyester microfilm with polysulfide treatment.  More commonly known as brown toning, this treatment encapsulates and protects the silver against oxidation, as well as, halts the acceleration of Redox spots. We can also scan duplicate rolls and replace images that have Redox spots.

M-DISC Backup

Since magnetic hard drives have a life expectancy of only 7 years and Land Records require a permanent retention period, we also offer the option to archive to 100GB M-DISC DVDs that store data by physically etching bits into a carbon layer. NASA and the U.S. Navy have performed accelerated age testing that estimates M-DISCs to deliver a life expectancy of 1,000 years. M-DISCs are the only digital media on the market offering a nearly permanent backup solution.

Digital Backup

We begin each backfile scanning project by copying both JPEG and TIFF images to two sets of external USB hard drives. The first drive is shipped to you and the second is stored in one of our climate-controlled vaults. Images are then copied to our RAID 10 servers for processing. After cropping and enhancing, images are copied to hard drive that is shipped to you, while a second set of hard drives are stored in our vaults. Magnetic hard drives have an average life expectancy of 7 years.