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Despite some of its relative flaws, MD5 is frequently selected over SHA-256 in archives as the checksum algorithm of choice. One of the primary factors here is the longer processing time required for SHA-256, though there have been no empirical studies calculating that time difference and its overall impact on checksum generation and verification in a preservation environment. AVPreserve Consultant Alex Duryee recently ran a series of tests comparing the real time and cpu time used by each algorithm. His newly updated white paper "What Is the Real Impact of SHA-256?" presents the results and comes to some interesting conclusions regarding the actual time difference between the two and what other factors may have a greater impact on your selection decision and file monitoring workflow. The paper can be downloaded for free at http://www.avpreserve.com/papers-and-presentations/whats-the-real-impact-of-sha-256/ . ______________________________________ Alex Duryee *AVPreserve* 350 7th Ave., Suite 1605 New York, NY 10001 office: 917-475-9630 http://www.avpreserve.com Facebook.com/AVPreserve <http://facebook.com/AVPreserve> twitter.com/AVPreserve