Methods of Preserving and Exchanging Electronic Files: A Survey Study

Abstract

The digital preservation of electronic files is a process of great importance because of its role in preserving lost and damaged documents, as well as facilitating access to these files and the ease of sharing and exchanging them. Given the importance of the process of preserving and exchanging electronic files, several strategies have emerged that contribute to the process of careful management and digital preservation of electronic files, to take into account all factors, including cost and return. In addition, many countries have put in place legislation and principles governing the process of preserving files. At present, many techniques and methods are used to preserve electronic files. In this scientific paper, we will highlight methods to preserve and exchange electronic files, to identify the most prominent and most important methods that are relied upon for preserving and exchanging electronic files, according to the great technological development witnessed by the current era, and the trend of all individuals, institutions and sectors towards storing data in electronic files. To achieve this goal, the descriptive survey approach will be relied upon as the main approach to preparing the scientific paper.

Several research studies and scientific articles on the subject of the study have been reviewed in Arabic and English, and it has been concluded that (desktop storage, cold storage, social media storage, cloud storage, personal hybrid cloud storage) are among the most prominent methods of preserving electronic files. The results also confirmed that the lack of legal legislation and functional standards that regulate the process of managing electronic records will contribute to creating many problems and destroying and stealing electronic files. It has also been found that the process of saving and managing files electronically improves efficiency rates in the performance of companies, in addition to a positive reflection on the financial costs that the company allocates to the process of electronic file preservation.

According to the results, the researcher concluded a set of conclusions, including the most prominent:  the existence of great importance of the electronic file preservation process, given its role in facilitating and speeding up access to them, because it benefits different companies and institutions in improving employee performance rates and increasing productivity rates. Despite the importance of electronic file preservation, many problems are facing this process, such as confidentiality and privacy problems, hacking and theft of files by hackers as well as several problems such as storage space and accessibility.

According to the results reached, the researcher suggests several recommendations, including the most important: The need to pay attention to the process of developing the necessary strategies and legislation that will facilitate the process of managing, organizing, preserving, and exchanging electronic files, as well as to training courses for workers in the field of digital preservation of electronic files, to increase and improve their skills in dealing with the various electronic preservation methods of electronic files.