Preservation Action

Lifecycle stage definition: Functions that support the DCC Lifecycle stage defined as "Undertake actions to ensure long-term preservation and retention of the authoritative nature of data. Preservation actions should ensure that data remains authentic, reliable and usable while maintaining its integrity. Actions include data cleaning, validation, assigning preservation metadata, assigning representation information and ensuring acceptable data structures or file formats."

Lifecycle order: 4

Functions within this lifecycle stage

Funtion	Definition
De-Duplication	Tools that enable the identification and/or removal of duplicate or similar files.
Decryption	Tools for recovering passwords or unlocking encrypted digital files.
Emulation	Tools that enable the emulation or virtualisation of a hardware or software system on another system.
File Format Migration	Tools that support the transformation of data from one file format to another.
File Management	Tools that support general file management activities such as viewing or renaming
File Recovery	Tools that support the recovery of data from damaged or corrupted storage devices such as disks.
Multi Format Rendering	Tools that support the rendering of a cross section of file format or content categories.
Quality Assurance	Tools that support quality checking of digital resources, identifying damaged, incomplete or low quality data. Typically used to identify damage introduced via processes such as format migration or digitisation.
Redaction	Tools that support the removal of selected information from digital files. Typically used for removal of sensitive information like telephone or credit card numbers from personal archives before providing access to users.
Rendering	Tools that support the rendering of digital resources so they can be viewed, printed, or otherwise accessed by users.
Repair	Tools that support the repair of damaged or corrupted data.

Tools for this lifecycle stage

Tool	Function	Purpose
7-Zip	Fixity Rendering Transfer	7-Zip is a file archiver with a high compression ratio, and encryption and fixity check capabilities
ADIGRES	Access File Management Storage	ADIGRES is a powerful cross-platform Document Management System written in Java.
ALTAG3D	File Management Metadata Extraction Personal Archiving Storage	An open source archive software
AccessData Decryption Tools	Decryption	This page gives information on AccessData Decryption Tools.
AccessToSiard	File Format Migration	A collection of scripts to automatically convert MS Access files to the SIARD format.
Advanced Renamer	File Management	Advanced Renamer is a program for renaming multiple files and folders at once. By configuring renaming methods the names can be manipulated in various ways.
Aid4Mail	File Format Migration	For migrating or normalizing email formats
AllDup	De-Duplication	A brief description
Antiword	File Format Migration	Antiword is a free MS Word reader for Linux and RISC OS.
Apache PDFBox	Validation Encryption Detection File Format Migration Metadata Extraction Repair	JAVA PDF library for creation, manipulation, validation and content extraction of PDF documents
Apache POI - the Java API for Microsoft Documents	Encryption Detection File Format Migration Metadata Extraction	The Apache POI Project's mission is to create and maintain Java APIs for manipulating various file formats based upon the Office Open XML standards (OOXML) and Microsoft's OLE 2 Compound Document format (OLE2).
ArchiFiltre	File Management Appraisal	Overview of folder trees with fine diagrams
Archivematica	File Format Migration Preservation System	Archivematica is a digital preservation system that automates the process of preparing digital objects for ingest into a repository and an access system
AsTiffTagViewer	Quality Assurance	AsTiffTagViewer is a TIFF Tag Viewer application.
Audacity	File Management Personal Archiving Redaction	The open source audio editor
AudiAnnotate	Academic Social Networking Access Annotation Discovery Managing Active Research Data Metadata Processing Persistent Identification Personal Archiving Preservation System Rendering Version Control Workflow Service	To make audio and its interpretations more discoverable and usable by extending the use of the newest IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) standard for audio with the development of the AudiAnnotate web application, documented workflows and workshops that will facilitate the use of existing best-of-breed, open source tools for audio annotation (Sonic Visualiser), for public code and document repositories (GitHub), and audio presentation (Universal Viewer) to produce, publish, and sustain shareable W3C Web Annotations for individual and collaborative audio projects.
Audio/Video to WAV Converter	File Format Migration	This tool converts audio and video files to WAV format.
Autopsy Digital Forensics	Content Profiling De-Duplication Disk Imaging Forensic Appraisal	Open source, free digital forensics tool
Avcc	File Management	AVCC is an open source application that enables collaborative, efficient item-level cataloging of audiovisual collections.
BAT: BnfArcTools	File Management	BAT is a Perl package for processing Internet Archive ARC, DAT and CDX file format.
Bad Peggy	Validation Quality Assurance	Scans for damaged images and photos.
BitCurator	Fixity Validation File Management Metadata Extraction Metadata Processing Quality Assurance Workflow	The BitCurator Environment is an Ubuntu Linux distribution geared to the needs of archivists and librarians. It includes a suite of open source digital forensics and data analysis tools to help collecting institutions process born-digital materials.
Bulk Rename Utility	File Management	Bulk Rename Utility is a free file renaming software for Windows. Bulk Rename Utility allows you to easily rename files and entire folders based upon extremely flexible criteria.
CDS Convert	File Format Migration	CDS Convert is a suite of tools that allow conversion of documents, presentations and images between different software formats.
CHRONOS	File Format Migration	Database Retirement, Partial and Ongoing Database Archiving, Application Retirement.
CSV export form for Microsoft Access	File Format Migration	A Microsoft Access form to export all database tables to interoperable CSV files.
CSV2SIARD	File Format Migration	A tool to create SIARD containers from CSV files.
Calibre	File Format Migration Rendering	An e-book management tool, including viewer, migration, and file conversion features among others.
Catdoc & xls2csv	File Format Migration	catdoc is a program that reads one or more Microsoft Word files and outputs text to standard output.
Checkit tiff	Validation Quality Assurance	a tool to validate TIFF files against given configuration profile
CloneSpy	De-Duplication	Finds duplicates, also precisely, deletes with rules.
CloudCompare	File Format Migration Metadata Extraction Multi Format Rendering	CloudCompare is a tool for editing and processing 3D point clouds and triangular meshes.
Converseen	File Format Migration	A GUI for ImageMagick supporting mass operations
CyberChef	Binary & Hexidecimal Editing Decryption Discovery Encryption Detection File Management Metadata Extraction Personal Archiving	A forensic tool with workflow capabilities to analyse files and containers
Czkawka	De-Duplication File Management Appraisal	Czkawka is a simple, fast and free app to remove unnecessary files from your computer.
DANS DBF	File Format Migration Rendering	DANS DBF Library is a Java library for reading and writing xBase database files.
DANS MIXED	File Format Migration	Migration to Intermediate XML for Electronic Data.
DART (Digital Archivist's Resource Tool)	Fixity File Management Storage Transfer	Provides both a GUI and a command-line interface for packaging files and uploading them to remote repositories.
DBPTK Developer	Validation File Format Migration	DBPTK Developer - library and command-line tool for exection of database preservation actions
DBeaver	File Format Migration	Multi-platform database tool that supports migration and data management
DIMAG	Access File Format Migration Metadata Extraction Preservation System Storage Workflow	A software suite supporting archives with preservation of digital information for eternity
DMC (DBpoweramp Music Converter)	File Format Migration	dBpoweramp Music Converter (dMC) is an audio conversion tool.
DNS	Validation File Format Migration Metadata Processing Preservation System	DNS - DA NRW Software Suite
DOSBox	Emulation	DOSBox is a DOS-emulator for different platforms, such as Windows, BeOS, Linux, MacOS X.
DROID Siegfried Sqlite Analysis Engine	Content Profiling De-Duplication Metadata Extraction	Format Identification Analysis and Reporting
DV Analyzer	Metadata Processing Quality Assurance	DV Analyzer is a technical quality control and reporting tool that examines DV streams in order to report errors in the tape-to-file transfer process.
DVRescue	Metadata Processing Quality Assurance	DVRescue is archivist-made software that supports data migration from DV tapes into digital files suitable for long-term preservation.
Db-preservation-toolkit	File Format Migration	Enables conversion between database formats or dumping from live database systems for the purposes of preservation.
DbDIPview	Access Quality Assurance Redaction	Framework for packaging the database Representation Information and pre-configured user-friendly access. Different combinations of Content Data Objects are supported by an automated deployment mechanism. Enables access to the archived databases in the archive reading room for non-technical users.
Dcfldd	File Copy File Management Forensic	dcfldd is an enhanced version of GNU dd with features useful for forensics and security.
Dd rescue	Disk Imaging File Recovery	dd_rescue is suitable for rescuing data from a medium with errors, i.
DeepArc	File Format Migration Web Capture	Intended for preserving web sites from the back-end, this is a database-to-XML curation tool.
Demystify	Metadata Extraction Content Profiling De-Duplication	Format Identification, Analysis and Reporting
Detox	File Management	The detox utility renames files to make them easier to work with under Unix and Unix-like operating systems.
Developer Tools in QA: Novice's Toolkit	Quality Assurance	A collaborative document which non-developers can adapt to record QA methods using built-in browser developer tools.
DiPS (Digital Preservation Solution)	Secure Deletion Access Active Data Storage Validation File Format Identification File Format Migration File Management Metadata Extraction Preservation System Storage Transfer Workflow Service	DiPS (OAIS compliant Digital Preservation Solution)
Digital Preservation Recorder	File Format Migration Workflow	Digital Preservation Recorder (DPR) is free and open source software developed by the National Archives of Australia to aid in the long term preservation of digital records.
Dioscuri	Emulation	Dioscuri is a computer hardware emulator, specifically designed to be used as part of a digital preservation strategy.
Directory List & Print	File Management Metadata Extraction	A universal metadata extractor
DiskView	File Management	DiskView shows you a graphical map of your disk, allowing you to determine where a file is located or, by clicking on a cluster, seeing which file occupies it.
DocMorph: Electronic Document Conversion	File Format Migration	The U.S. National Library of Medicine's (NLM) document conversion tools make the exchange and use of biomedical library electronic information easier for librarians, library users, and the general public
Docuteam cosmos	File Format Migration Preservation System Storage Workflow Service	docuteam cosmos is a comprehensive, modular software solution for the operation of digital long-term archives based on the OAIS standard (Open Archival Information System, ISO 14721:2012).
Docuteam packer	Fixity Data capture and Deposit File Management Metadata Processing Appraisal	Creates and edits SIPs
Docworks	OCR Quality Assurance Workflow	Document digitization workflow software
Double Commander	Fixity De-Duplication File Copy File Management Batch Rename	Open source file manager with two panels side by side
DupeGuru	De-Duplication	A brief description
EXIF to DC XML normaliser	File Format Migration Metadata Extraction	Extract EXIF data and normalise it to DC XML.
Easy CD-DA Extractor	Disk Imaging File Format Migration Metadata Extraction	Easy CD-DA Extractor is CD Ripper, Music Converter, Audio Converter, Metadata Editor, and CD/DVD burning software.
ElcomSoft	Decryption	ElcomSoft offers numerous password recovery applications.
Emailchemy	De-Duplication File Format Migration File Management File Recovery	Converts proprietary emails to standard portable formats
EmbARC	Metadata Processing Quality Assurance	internal file metadata management including embedding and validation
Exact Audio Copy	Disk Imaging File Format Migration Metadata Extraction	Exact Audio Copy is an audio grabber for audio CDs using standard CD and DVD-ROM drives on Windows only.
ExifTool	Metadata Extraction Metadata Processing Repair	Properties extraction, identification, metadata editing
Explore2fs	File Management	Explore2fs is a GUI explorer tool for accessing ext2 and ext3 filesystems.
FFAStrans	File Format Identification File Format Migration Metadata Extraction Planning Quality Assurance Workflow	Task automation engine, mostly used in audio and video visual content management.
FFmpeg	File Format Migration	FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video.
File Analyzer and Metadata Harvester V2	Fixity Validation File Management Metadata Extraction Metadata Processing Quality Assurance Workflow	The File Analyzer is a general purpose desktop (and command line) tool designed to automate simple, file-based operations. The File Analyzer assembles a toolkit of tasks a user can perform. The tasks that have been written into the File Analyzer code base have been optimized for use by libraries, archives, and other cultural heritage institutions.
FileVerifier++	Fixity De-Duplication	Windows utility for verifying file contents
Filestar	File Format Identification File Format Migration Metadata Extraction	Universal file converter for 900+ file types.
Filzip	Rendering	Filzip offers full support (add and extract) support for ZIP (including Quake III's PK3), BH (BlakHole), CAB (Microsoft Cabinet), JAR (JavaARchive), LHA (LZH), TARand GZIP(TAR.
Fingerdet	Quality Assurance	QA tool for detecting fingers on digitised pages
Fixit tiff	Repair	fixes some issues in (potentially) baseline tiffs, as an example, invalid datetime tags, wrong tiff tag order
FolderMatch	De-Duplication	Compares two directory trees and flags up duplicates
Foremost	File Recovery Forensic	Foremost is a console program to recover files based on their headers, footers, and internal data structures.
Fq	Access Validation Binary & Hexidecimal Editing Discovery File Format Identification File Recovery Forensic Metadata Extraction Policy Quality Assurance Repair	Tool, language and decoders for working with binary data.
Free Video Cutter Joiner	File Management Personal Archiving Redaction	It cuts and joins video streams without altering the codecs.
FreeCommander	Fixity De-Duplication File Copy File Management	Split-screen file manager with desirable extras
Fslint	De-Duplication File Management	Set of utilities to find and clean various forms of lint on a filesystem, such as duplicate files, empty directories, and bad file names.
GNU Diffutils	De-Duplication Quality Assurance	GNU Diffutils is a package of several programs related to finding differences between files.
GetDataBack	File Recovery	GetDataBack will recover your data if the hard drive's partition table, boot record, FAT/MFT or root directory are lost or damaged, data was lost due to a virus attack, the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted.
Goobi	OCR Planning Quality Assurance Workflow	Workflow Management Tool
Grok	File Format Migration Rendering	JPEG 2000 SDK, includes encoder/decoder
Gzip	Rendering	gzip produces files with a .gz extension. gunzip can decompress files created by gzip, compress or pack
HandBrake	File Format Migration	Converts video data into widely accepted formats.
HxC Floppy Emulator toolkit	Appraisal Rendering Forensic	Provides comprehensive support for working with floppy disk images—importing and converting multiple formats, analyzing streams, creating custom layouts, and performing low-level disk inspections.
IBM Digital Asset Preservation Tool	Emulation	IBM's Digital Asset Preservation Tool is a proof-of-concept demonstration of the Universal Virtual Computer solution that provides long-term access to JPEG and GIF87a files.
IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework)	Access Rendering	A set of APIs, tools and protocols for manipulating and providing interoperable access to digital images
IMacros	Quality Assurance Web Capture	iMacros makes it easy to test web-based applications.
ImageMagick	File Format Migration Rendering	ImageMagick® is a software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images.
ImageVerifier	Validation Metadata Processing Quality Assurance	ImageVerifier (IV for short) traverses a hierarchy of folders looking for image files to verify. It can verify TIFFs, JPEGs. PSDs, DNGs, and non-DNG raws (e.g., NEF, CR2).
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