Disk Image Formats

Introduction

Harvard Library collections include a variety of computer media that will be imaged using forensic disk imaging techniques and preserved in the Library’s preservation and access repository - the Digital Repository Service (DRS). As a first step towards providing support for this material in the DRS, the Library contracted AVPreserve in late 2015 to assist with the analysis. The goals of the analysis were:

Recommended disk image formats to accept and prefer for the DRS
Recommended technical metadata schema(s) to use for disk image file formats
DRS content models for these objects
Recommendations for enhancing Harvard Library’s FITS tool to better support these objects

The driving principles of this work were to:

Provide interoperability with the existing metadata schemas and workflows of the DRS
Provide sufficient metadata for long-term preservation of forensic disk image objects
Adhere to existing standards where possible
Propose simpler models over more complex ones where possible

Specifically the analysis was conducted in three areas: formats, metadata and tools. The deliverables from this analysis will be posted on this page.

Format Analysis

Document

Description

Authors

Disk Image Format Matrix

This spreadsheet compares Disk Image formats according to preservation criteria (shown in the first column).
The cells are shaded to visually represent the value for the format (green is good, yellow is neutral, red is bad)

AVPreserve

Disk Image Format Matrix Summary

This document presents an analysis of the format matrix for Disk Image formats.

AVPreserve

Metadata Analysis

Document	Description	Authors
Disk Image Metadata Analysis Report	An analysis of metadata for Disk Image Formats.	AVPreserve