Archived data should typically remain stored over a very long period of time. During this period, the underlying technical system components, storage media, and data formats may age physically or technically and become useless. Compatibility issues with the data formats used can arise over the course of time, for example.

If there is no response to the ageing process, it should be assumed that archived raw data will be no longer readable from archive media in the long term. Archived data can also be changed due to physical errors in archive systems and archiving media.