Data Archival and Long-term Storage

Choosing Archive Format

For long-term storage:

  • CAB with MSZIP: Best compatibility, widely supported

  • Avoid Quantum: Proprietary, less supported

  • Preserve metadata: Timestamps, attributes

Archival Example 

require 'cabriolet'

# Archive with maximum compatibility
cab = Cabriolet::CAB::Compressor.new(
  output: 'archive-2024.cab',
  compression: :mszip,  # Maximum compatibility
  preserve_paths: true,
  preserve_timestamps: true
)

cab.add_directory('documents/')
cab.compress

Verification 

# Periodic integrity checks
cab = Cabriolet::CAB::Parser.new.parse('archive-2024.cab')

cab.files.each do |file|
  checksum = Digest::SHA256.hexdigest(file.data)
  puts "#{file.name}: #{checksum}"
end

See also