Step 4 · Switch over
Documentary archive deposit
This is the largest operation of the migration. Several hundred gigabytes, sometimes several terabytes, are extracted from your operational systems, indexed, encrypted and stored on sovereign French infrastructure. Here is how it actually works.
Why a structured deposit
An unindexed archive is almost useless. When a former client asks you, five years from now, for the copy of a contract they signed with your entity, nobody will have time to dig through a raw tree of hundreds of thousands of files. The deposit must be designed as a library: indexed by folder, by contributor, by date, by legal category. This is the main work of this step, and it is what sets useful archiving apart from a mere backup.
What actually happens
- Extraction. Depending on the source: native exports (Google Takeout, Microsoft 365 Compliance, GitHub Migration), authenticated API access, direct NAS copy, or — as a last resort — physical disk copy. All extraction operations are logged: who, when, from which system, to where.
- Indexing. Each file gets an internal identifier, is attached to a logical folder (Accounting 2024, Client X project, HR history, etc.), to an identified contributor when possible, and to a creation/modification date. For email, indexing preserves the original folder structure and the address book.
- Cryptographic fingerprint. Each item gets its fingerprint (SHA-256 by default). It is an integrity proof: if the file is later modified, its fingerprint changes. It is not regulated evidential value — Archivum does not present itself as a regulated evidential vault operator.
- Encryption. Data is encrypted at rest (AES-256). Keys are managed separately. Consultation by a grantee runs through a logged on-the-fly decryption.
- Storage. S3-compatible object storage on Scaleway, French data centres. Internal replication for resilience, no exit from Europe. See European digital sovereignty.
- Named register. A document is generated listing all deposited files, their fingerprint, deposit date, category and retention duration. The register is handed to you and archived in two copies (one for you, one for Archivum).
Frequent edge cases
SaaS accounts with limited native export. Some platforms (older versions of Slack, proprietary HR platforms) offer incomplete or hard-to-process exports. We identify these points at scoping and propose workarounds (API extraction, structured HTML capture).
Data shared with third parties. Preserved files may contain information about clients, suppliers, former employees. The deposit does not erase their GDPR rights: they can keep exercising access or erasure rights, processed under the retention period applicable to each category.
Massive volumes. Beyond the terabyte, internet-based extraction becomes lengthy. For these cases, we organise an encrypted physical delivery (sealed drives shipped to the data centre) which compresses the duration to a few working days.
What you walk away with
The named deposit register, dated and signed, listing precisely what was received, in which category, and for which duration. An encrypted local copy if you wish (to keep in a safe, not on a workstation). Access credentials for the grantees designated in the contract, for their future consultations.
Start a deposit
The deposit is executed after contract signature and migration plan validation. To prepare upstream, initial scoping remains the right entry point.