The Floppy Disks in the Garage: physical preservation conditions and digital media
Sara Janes
This talk illustrates a case study of working with removable digital media previously stored in far-from-ideal conditions, in a small archives with minimal resources. The process included physical cleaning of disks, and resulted in over 90% of data being recovered and preserved. 

The preservation of born-digital materials begins well before they reach any archival institution. Records created in the 1990s and 2000s are often “saved” on removable storage media by their creators, and the longevity of those media is affected by their storage conditions. Institutions collecting private records must deal with these effects only at the time the records come to us.

In 2023, the Lakehead University Archives began acquiring records donated by Steve Mantis, a long-time activist and advocate for the rights of injured and disabled workers. The records in his fonds reflect close to 40 years of organising. 

Mantis’s records were stored in a hand-built outbuilding on his rural property. This two-story structure serves as a garage and home office, and is not insulated, heated, or air conditioned. There has been no water damage, and excellent air circulation has prevented any mould or mustiness. However, records in the building have been subjected to significant temperature swings (over a possible range of 80 degrees celsius) and insects have not been excluded.

The donation of records included just under 200 floppy disks. Work began with a full cleaning of all disks, including moving and checking under the shutters. Cobwebs and insect remains were removed carefully. Only then was it possible to transfer the information from the disks and prepare SIPs for ingest. Despite the storage environment, most disks were still in good condition. 

Digital preservation may often be talked about in the abstract, but case-studies like this demonstrate the very real material and practical challenges to preservation that are faced by small archives that comprise an important piece of local and regional heritage. This case also demonstrates how removable digital media may be more resilient to temperature extremes and other environmental challenges than one might expect.
approaches to preservation start 2 preserve