Some of you may have seen my recent post in the Photography forum concerning an abandoned research and animal testing facility. I mentioned that they left a large number of documents behind. They also left at least a dozen pieces of digital media behind in the form of floppy disks, VCR tapes, and CDs.
I've also mentioned that I want to photograph all the documents left behind to preserve the information they contain, so that it is not lost when they are inevitably destroyed by water, humans, or animals. I'd like to do the same with the digital media, but it's not as easy as photographing a piece of paper. Now, I don't want to remove the storage devices from the location for obvious reasons, so I can't just take them home and back them up. My laptop is too new to have a floppy drive, so I can't bring it to copy them either.
So, how should I go about preserving this data, provided that the storage devices aren't too badly deteriorated to read? How can I preserve the data without taking the devices? And what's the legality of taking digital information from an abandonment? Is that information theft, and can I be charged for it? Is it theft if you copy it and leave the original behind, and is this piracy?
I figured I'd ask here since I've never seen this topic come up before.
I've also mentioned that I want to photograph all the documents left behind to preserve the information they contain, so that it is not lost when they are inevitably destroyed by water, humans, or animals. I'd like to do the same with the digital media, but it's not as easy as photographing a piece of paper. Now, I don't want to remove the storage devices from the location for obvious reasons, so I can't just take them home and back them up. My laptop is too new to have a floppy drive, so I can't bring it to copy them either.
So, how should I go about preserving this data, provided that the storage devices aren't too badly deteriorated to read? How can I preserve the data without taking the devices? And what's the legality of taking digital information from an abandonment? Is that information theft, and can I be charged for it? Is it theft if you copy it and leave the original behind, and is this piracy?
I figured I'd ask here since I've never seen this topic come up before.