Digital archaeology: digging through an old filing cabinet

Last week I found myself doing something quite unexpected: digital archaeology. For years, OMF used an older system to manage staff records, projects, and correspondence. Everyone has moved to modern software now, but just before the old system was shut down, a full backup was saved to an external hard drive. Think of it as a massive digital filing cabinet filled with thousands of folders from finished projects and former colleagues.

That drive is important because past records are still needed from time to time, for things like official paperwork or retirement questions. When that happens, nobody should have to spend days searching blindly. Last week I started organizing this mountain of files to build a clear index of where everything lives.

Since the drive contains sensitive personal data, uploading anything to an online cloud service was out of the question. Instead, I used an AI tool running entirely offline on my own laptop. It helps categorize folders by their names, after which I review everything manually. The original developers loved cryptic abbreviations like 'Z' and 'CPO', so piecing together what everything means has been quite a puzzle.

The work does not stop with the backup drive. If we find that some critical information is missing from the files, we have to go a step further. The old physical servers are still sitting in the rack, turned off for about six months now. Next week we will see if we can power them back up and get access to them.

The catch is that almost all the personnel who knew these systems left over the last six months. We have to figure everything out on our own, without a manual or colleagues to ask for help. I will be leading this project. It feels a bit daunting, but with God's help we will get it done.