The FILE-EXPIRATION-DATE operand can be used in an archival request to define a file expiration date for the files to be archived; this is a logical retention period that may differ from the physical retention period defined for the volume containing the save version. The HSMS administrator can define for public long-term archives that the logical retention period for individual files may be longer than the physical retention period for the volumes. In this case, the HSMS administrator must take appropriate administrative measures to protect a volume against overwriting once the physical retention period has expired. One possibility, for instance, is to reshuffle the volumes before the retention period expires. Reshuffling is the copying of save versions to a volume with a higher expiration date. This can be restricted to those save versions whose file expiration date has not yet been reached.