The archive on your TI-83 Plus works just like ROM (Read-Only Membory) on a computer. It stores more information than the RAM (Random Access Memory), but nothing may be executed or edited in the archive. As your calculator only has so much space in the RAM, it is good to archive anything you are not using, especially programs, in the archive. Should your calculator happen to crash, the archive will not be erased, but the RAM will. TI-83 calculators do not have an archive.