Digital Media Transfer Workflow

Digital Media Transfer Overview

This is the Rockefeller Archive Center’s documentation for digital media inventorying and transfer workflows using the Digital Media Log, a tool for documenting the discovery of digital media items as well as the transfer actions applied to those items. For the purposes of inventorying and transferring digital media at the RAC, the term “digital media” is used to describe the various data storage devices records creators use to store born digital material. Examples of the types of digital media items that these workflows address include optical disks, hard drives, flash drives, and 3 1/2 inch and 5 1/4 inch floppy disks.

The workflows were developed in order to empower archivists to preserve and process collections consisting entirely of digital media as well as to process digital media items found in mostly analog or mixed collections. Their use supports the RAC’s objective to preserve and provide access to archival records, regardless of format.

Required Steps for Transferring Digital Media at the RAC

Our objectives are to inventory and transfer digital media items, ensure they are free of viruses and malware, and store them on the Digital Records (X) drive. To successfully perform these actions various tools, hardware, and workstations are used in the following ordered steps:

  1. Inventory digital media item(s) in ArchivesSpace when the item(s) are encountered during accessioning/processing.
  2. Transfer digital media item using appropriate hardware and tools (If you experience difficulties using the available tools for transferring digital media items, consult the Troubleshooting Page and/or use the Advanced Troubleshooting form to communicate your issues to the Advanced Troubleshooting Team)
  3. Scan the digital media item for viruses using the virus checking workstation (Ginger machine)
  4. Document the transfer using the Digital Media Log in cases where the item was part of the digital media backlog.
  5. Move the files to the X:Drive/Disk Images folder.

Documentation Components

  • Inventorying Digital Media: Instructions for when and how to inventory digital media ArchivesSpace. Additional information about the role and use of the Digital Media Log.
  • Transfer Instructions: Instructions for identifying the correct method for transferring digital media as well as steps for imaging different types of digital media
  • Scanning for Viruses: Instructions for setting up the virus checking workstation and running the virus checking script to scan for viruses and malware on disk images
  • Troubleshooting: Description of common imaging error warnings and instructions/solutions for troubleshooting imaging of different types of digital media and other workflow procedures