What additional requirements apply to the selection and maintenance of electronic records storage media for permanent records?
36 C.F.R. § 1236.28
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) Agencies must maintain the storage and test areas for electronic records storage media containing permanent and unscheduled records within the following temperature and relative humidity ranges:
(1) Temperature—62° to 68 °F.
(2) Relative humidity—35% to 45%.
(b) Electronic media storage libraries and test or evaluation areas that contain permanent or unscheduled records must be smoke-free.
(c) For additional guidance on the maintenance and storage of CDs and DVDS, agencies may consult the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 500-252, Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs at http://www.itl.nist.gov/iad/894.05/papers/CDandDVDCareandHandlingGuide.pdf, contact phone number (301) 975-6478.
(d) Agencies must test magnetic computer tape media no more than 6 months prior to using them to store electronic records that are unscheduled or scheduled for permanent retention. This test should verify that the magnetic computer tape media are free of permanent errors and in compliance with NIST or industry standards.
(e) Agencies must annually read a statistical sample of all magnetic computer tape media containing permanent and unscheduled records to identify any loss of data and to discover and correct the causes of data loss. In magnetic computer tape libraries with 1800 or fewer tape media, a 20% sample or a sample size of 50 media, whichever is larger, should be read. In magnetic computer tape libraries with more than 1800 media, a sample of 384 media should be read. Magnetic computer tape media with 10 or more errors should be replaced and, when possible, lost data must be restored. All other magnetic computer tape media which might have been affected by the same cause (i.e., poor quality tape, high usage, poor environment, improper handling) must be read and corrected as appropriate.
(f) Before the media are 10 years old, agencies must copy permanent or unscheduled data on magnetic records storage media onto tested and verified new electronic media.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-36.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026