The present invention relates to a method or system of data archival using a pattern-based and rule-based data archive manager for a flexible, generic archive solution. The method and system allow for the user to create rules and allow for the system to archive based upon those rules input by the user and to select data to be archived against the facts about the data. The system has a rule based data archive manager having a pattern matcher, a decision scheduler and a rule executor, a fact meta-data storage for storing facts, and a rule library storage for storing user input data about rules.