Checklist · Updated 5 October 2026

The Digital Legacy Checklist

Eight steps, in order. Work through them over a weekend or two, tick as you go, and do not erase or throw away anything until step 8. If any step feels uncertain, stop there and ask for help rather than pressing on.

§ 01 — Step 1 of 8

Find every device

Walk through the house with a pen. Open the drawers, the cupboard tops, the old school bag. Write each item down.

Laptops and desktops, including the family PC and any Mac, working or not.
Phones and tablets, including the old ones in drawers.
External hard drives and SSDs, and the cables that go with them.
Pen drives and memory cards (camera, phone, handycam).
CDs and DVDs: burned photo albums, wedding videos, old software discs.
Your parents’ and relatives’ devices, and devices of anyone who has passed away. Ask permission first, and keep these safe.
Online accounts that hold photos or files: Google, iCloud, OneDrive, old email accounts, WhatsApp backups.
Give each device a number and a sticky label. Note who owned it and roughly what is on it.

§ 02 — Step 2 of 8

Check condition safely

Old devices can fail the first time they are switched on in years. Look and listen before you power anything up.

Look for swollen or bulging batteries, cracked casings, rust, water marks or a burnt smell.
Swollen battery: stop. Do not charge or switch it on. Keep it away from heat and ask for help.
Use a stable power supply, and a UPS if your area has frequent power cuts.
Power on one device at a time, on a flat, hard surface. Do not move it while it is running.
Clicking, grinding, beeping, freezing, or a drive that keeps disconnecting: switch it off and stop using it. Do not try again and again.
If a device asks you to format a drive, do not. Disconnect it and set it aside.
Do not reinstall, reset or ‘clean up’ any computer yet. Copy first, tidy later.

§ 03 — Step 3 of 8

Decide the destination

Choose where the copies will live before you copy anything. A simple rule to follow is 3-2-1.

3 copies of anything that matters: the original, plus two more.
2 different kinds of storage, for example an external drive and a cloud account.
1 copy somewhere else: a cloud account in your name, or a drive kept at a relative’s home.
Add up roughly how much data you have, then buy or plan storage with at least twice that space.
If you use the cloud, check your plan’s real limit. Free allowances are shared across email, Drive and Photos, and fill quickly.
Make sure the account is yours, has two-step verification on, and has a recovery phone number and email that still work.
Do not copy from one old drive onto another old drive.

§ 04 — Step 4 of 8

Copy carefully

Copy, never move. The original stays untouched until you have checked the copy.

Create one folder per device on the destination, named clearly: ‘Dell laptop 2012 – from Papa’s desk’.
Copy the most precious things first: family photos and videos, then documents, then everything else.
Use Copy and Paste, not Cut or drag-and-drop between drives.
Check the usual places: Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Downloads, Videos, the D: drive, email files, WhatsApp media and phone backups.
If some files will not copy, write down which ones. Do not retry them over and over on a weak drive.
Do not sort or delete while copying. Gather first.
Connect each old drive as few times as possible.

§ 05 — Step 5 of 8

Verify

This is the step most people skip, and the one that matters most.

Compare the number of files and the total size of each folder with the original. They should be close.
Open a sample from the copy: a few photos from different years, a video played to the end, a document or two.
Check the copy from a different device or account, not only from the computer you copied on.
Note any file that failed to copy or will not open.
Write the date and result against each device on your list.
Wait a few days and check again. Ask family if there is anything they expected to see.

§ 06 — Step 6 of 8

Organise

Keep it boring. A simple structure that you will actually follow beats a clever one.

Make one top folder, for example ‘Family Archive’, with a folder for each year.
Inside each year, short event folders: ‘2015-05 Goa trip’, ‘2018-12 Riya’s wedding’.
Merge the per-device folders into this structure only after every device has been copied and checked.
Review duplicates by hand or with a tool that asks before deleting. Keep the originals until the end.
Ask an elder to help name people and places in old photos, while they can. A short ‘who, where, when’ note in each event folder is enough.
Prefer common file types (JPG, PDF, MP4) that will open for years.

§ 07 — Step 7 of 8

Protect and maintain

A single copy is a start, not a backup. Make it last.

Make the second and third copies as set out in step 3, and check that each opens.
Keep drives in a cool, dry place, in a padded bag, with a silica gel packet if you live somewhere humid.
Choose a day each year, perhaps around Diwali or New Year, to open sample files from every copy.
Check that cloud storage is not full and the account still signs in.
Replace any drive older than about five years, or that has shown any problem.
Write a one-page note saying where the archive is and which accounts hold things. Tell at least two trusted people where to find it.
Keep passwords in a password manager or a sealed envelope with someone you trust, not in plain sight.

§ 08 — Step 8 of 8

Before you dispose of an old device

Do this last. Erasing and destroying cannot be undone.

Confirm that step 5 is done for this device, and that you have waited at least a few weeks.
Check with family that nobody needs anything from it.
Sign out of every account on it (Microsoft, Apple, Google, WhatsApp Web, email, banking) and turn off Find My.
Erase it properly with the full reset option, not just by deleting files or emptying the Recycle Bin.
For a drive that held sensitive records, or one that no longer works, destroy it physically or ask an authorised recycler to.
Use an authorised e-waste recycler. Do not hand an unerased drive to a scrap dealer.
A device that belonged to someone who has passed away: keep it for now. There is no hurry.

LegacyData by Kamyab · legacydata.kamyab.co.in · aj@kamyab.co.in