Developing workflows for digital preservation is a key way to actively manage the digital records you are responsible for. In this workflows guidance, we refer to ‘digital content’ or ‘content’ – this is what we hope to preserve. Digital preservation literature often calls this ‘digital objects’.
The guidance will show you which steps are ‘essential’ and you may prefer to follow only these steps. After all, it is better to do something, rather than nothing. We are not promoting a ‘one size fits all’ approach and expect archives to use and adapt the guidance depending on the needs of their organisation. Each step includes links to software and further guidance such as links to documentation, blogs and videos.
The guidance is arranged in four sections covering the following workflows:
This guidance is also available to download in Word or PDF format as a reference copy, allowing you to adapt it to your own organisation’s needs. In these versions, you will find templates in the appendix that can be presented to your IT departments to make a case for installation of some of the key pieces of software and hardware.
- Full digital preservation workflow guidance (DOC, 1.9MB)
- Full digital preservation workflow guidance (PDF, 1.4MB)
The following summarises the software you may require to carry out these workflows.
Beginner
- Anti-virus software.
- Copying software such as Teracopy Pro or Robocopy (a Windows command) for transferring or moving content.
- Software such as DROID, to identify and list your content.
- Software such as DROID or AVP Fixity Pro to create a checksum.
- Software such as CSV Validator with an integrity schema, AVP Fixity Pro or Checksum by Corz to carry out integrity checks.
Intermediate
Same as beginner, plus:
- Disk imaging software such as FTK Imager or BitCurator.
- Encryption software such as VeraCrypt or Bitlocker.
- Software such as Quick View Plus and VLC for viewing or playing content.
- De-duplication software such as CSV Validator with the deduplication schema and TreeSize Free.
Advanced
Same as intermediate, plus:
- Packaging software such as Bagger.
- Validation software such as JHOVE, Jpylyzer, veraPDF and MediaConch.
- Software to help with analysis such as Freud and HxD Hex Editor.
- Software such as Bulk Extractor that can help identify sensitive information.
- Redaction software for carrying out redaction of sensitive information.
- Software for migrating and converting file formats such as FFmpeg, ImageMagick, Ghostscript, LibreOffice and Apache Open Office.
- ePADD for working with email archives.
- Web recorder tools for web archiving.