Creating disk images of born digital content: a case study comparing success rates of institutional versus private collections

Although libraries maintain collections of material on computer disks in climate controlled environments, a significant amount of digital heritage is in private collections. In this study we compared the outcomes of creating disk images of the State Library of South Australia’s born digital collections with those of a private collector to gauge the effect of long term storage conditions. The failure rates of both collections give cause for concern, and the results from the private collection are alarming.