Recovery priority by types of records media

Recovery Priority by Type of Records Media from http://www.arma-gla.org/presentation/2001-02/armafeb20workshop2.pdf

			Salvage techniques
Media	Recovery priority	Initial action	Initial purpose	Follow-up action	Follow-up purpose	Comments
Magnetic media Magnetic tapes Disc packs Floppy diskettes and disks Flexible disks Audio and video tape cassettes CD-ROM Computer Output Laser Disk&	Immediately	Contact vendor	To obtain professional advice	May include freeze or vacuum drying, special cleaning techniques professional assistance in retrieving data	To remove all moisture and other contaminants from the media, to access data in case of damaged media	Such advice should be sought well in advance of a disaster. Contingency plans for data and word processing groups may be advisable. Heat and water damage to media may result in subsequent damage to hardware or irretrievability of data. Proper backup and salvage procedures are essential. It is worth noting that such records are among the easiest to duplicate and share off-site.
Photographic materials Colour film and photographs	Immediately	Once wet, keep wet	To avoid further damage and image toss			Colour dyes are inherently unstable and should be handled immediately to prevent loss of colour and other damage
	Within 48 hours	Obtain professional advice and/or assistance with cleaning, drying and restoring		Freeze if professional help must be delayed longer than 48 hours	To stabilize color dyes
Silver or emulsion films and photographs	Immediately within 48 hours	Immerse totally in water. Formaldehyde to a 1% solution, may be added to cool, clean water. One tablespoon of salt may be added to hard water.	To avoid further damage. To avoid softening or filling of gelatin or emulsion layer. If materials are allowed to dry out, they tend to stick to adjacent surfaces, with image loss and other damage.	Seek professional advice and help with cleaning and drying. Freeze only if necessary.	To restore films to original state. Freezing may lead to image damage, but less damage is likely to be caused by freezing than by delayed treatment.
Diazo or vesicular (duplicate) films	Last	If time and staff are available, rinse off and lay out to dry, otherwise, leave until last.	To prevent water sooting and curting of films and fiche.	Wash with liquid detergent and rinse and lay out on absorbent paper to dry.	To remove water spots and other contaminants and to restore film.	Diazo and vesicular films are nearly impervious to water damage and should clean-up easily. Diazo films sometimes fade with age. Fading or other damage discovered after the disaster can be related to poor quality control rather than to the disaster.
Paper Bond, rag, duplicating other	Within 48 hours (depending on temperature and humidity levels at disaster site and on extent of damage). In fires, paper is least vulnerable media.	Air dry in well ventilated area: if volume of wet records is large, consider freeze or vacuum drying.	To prevent further deterioration of paper materials and eruption of mold and fungus.	May include freeze or vacuum drying. If mold erupts, treat with fungicides. May place paper towels or newspaper print between wet pages.	To remove moisture from materials and to reduce humidity levels in damaged materials: to eradicate mold.	In high humidity levels, deterioration of wet paper records can begin within 2-3 hours.
Coated or clay paper	Immediately	Freeze	To hold damaged materials until freeze or vacuum drying can be arranged.	Freeze or vacuum drying.	To remove all moisture from paper, without damaged or removing coated surface.	Freeze or vacuum drying is the only successful recovery technique for this medium.