Archives are not just dusty boxes of papers. More and more often our history is stored on floppy disks and CDs, and the equipment capable of reading them is rapidly becoming obsolete. According to one study, only 8% of old CD-ROMs can be read today. This means that decades of memories and cultural heritage could be lost irrevocably.
Australian researchers from Victoria University (Melbourne) worked with members of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to preserve their personal digital materials. They described three steps for saving so-called "born-digital" content - files originally created on a computer.
First, using old and restored disk drives, a "disk image" is made - an exact bit-for-bit copy including all hidden and unused areas. Then the contents are analyzed: sometimes a standard file manager is enough, sometimes special software is needed. Finally, the image is saved on a hard drive, in the cloud or in a content management system so that it no longer depends on obsolete equipment.
Participants brought genealogical files, Word documents, oral history recordings, and photographs of major engineering projects. One library employee was able to access recordings of the 1991 Australian chamber opera "The Seduction of the General" by composer Martin Friedel. The Wodonga Family History Society digitized indexes of local cemetery records and scans of photographs of the construction of Hume Dam.
A special case is six 3.5-inch floppy disks with files from a discontinued 1996 genealogy program. The data was "double-locked": on the floppy disks and in the formats of old software. After the images were created, the woman was able to see information about her relatives again. "I am thrilled! It is almost magic," she said. Export to an open format will allow the data to be transferred to a modern program.
The researchers emphasize: digital preservation is an ongoing process, and even restored files will require attention in the future. Major galleries, libraries and museums have been building digital archives for years, but a great deal of historically significant material remains with private individuals and small organizations. How they will care for their data going forward is an open question.