The thing they all have in common is "archiving" -- long-term
storage and preservation of data that's inactive but may be needed
in the future. However, the difference is in the types of data that
are being archived. For example, structured data typically includes
database records. Unstructured data includes documents, images and
a wide range of other file types. Semistructured data often refers
to email systems where unstructured email text and attachments are
stored within structured databases. Some vendors try to do it all
through a single unified product or separate products within a
family (aka a "suite").
The point is that each archiving product has a different focus.
File
archiving products tend to work with
unstructured data without regard for the originating
application, offering powerful data movement, indexing/search
and policy-based retention and deletion features. By comparison,
email archiving focuses on archiving email packages, like
Microsoft Exchange, but one tool may emphasize the role of
content searching, while others may emphasize high availability
and replication for disaster recovery. It's easy to see email
archiving combined with other features. For databases, archiving
is tightly integrated with specific applications, such as
Microsoft Access, Oracle or SQL as well as third-party
vendors.
Go back to the beginning of the
File Archiving FAQ Guide.