Which of the following practices is crucial for maintaining data integrity during data storage?

Maintaining data integrity during data storage is fundamental to ensuring that the information remains accurate, consistent, and trustworthy throughout its lifecycle. Regular auditing is crucial because it involves systematically reviewing and examining data and the processes used to manage it. Through audits, organizations can identify any discrepancies, unauthorized access, or corruption of data. This practice not only helps to ensure that the data has not been altered inappropriately, but it also enables the detection of errors and issues that could compromise the integrity of the data. By implementing regular audits, organizations can establish a baseline of data integrity, monitor for deviations, and take corrective actions as needed.

Other practices, while beneficial in their own right, serve different purposes. For example, data archiving relates to the long-term storage of data that is not actively used but needs to be retained for compliance or historical purposes. Data compression reduces the size of the data for efficient storage but does not in itself ensure that the data remains intact and unaltered. Data redundancy can help in disaster recovery scenarios and maintains availability, but it does not directly address the integrity of the data itself if the original data becomes compromised. Therefore, regular auditing emerges as the most significant practice for upholding data integrity during storage.