A plan for starting your archive

Enough about the challenges. What to do?

This plan is a work in progress. help us out....

1. Work out what you have.
   1. Start by drawing a treasure map of where it all is ("X and Y and Z mark the spot"), both digital and non-digital.
   2. make a list. Not of every file, but of "clumps" of data, e.g. family photos on the C drive; the photo CDs from my first marriage... Use a spreadsheet like MS-Excel or Google Apps
   3. decide what order you are going to assess them in
   4. assess each 'clump':
      • what exactly is it about?
      • is it digital or non-digital (or both)?
      • is there anything in danger of being lost? eg. fading paper photos, data on old floppies or tapes...
      • does it need sorting and culling?
      • is there any index or at least useful names on files?
      • Is some of it somewhere else?
2. While you are doing that, you can start thinking about how you are going to store it. get yourself:
   1. a PC that can handle images and video and DVDs
   2. a scanner or MFD
   3. some backup software
   4. a second place to keep data. We recommend an external hard-drive, but you might choose a second server
   5. a remote safe place to send stuff regularly. this is in addition to your "second place"
   6. A way to organise and navigate through all the stuff
3. What do you want to do with it?
   1. Consider who it is for: descendants, historians...
   2. Decide a custodian to store it longterm
   3. Work out the best way of storing it long-term.
   4. Set that up.

There are some things you can do quickly