Your thoughts on paperless..

[el_novato]

I've been thinking of going to a paperless system here at home with all important documents that I must retain. Several companies have gone this route. Obviously, there systems may be more robust. But if I were to do this, it would be on an external HDD that I would only turn on when needed to minimize "wear and tear".

Comments? Suggestions? Concerns? Ideas...lemme hear 'em.

e.n.

[PCBrandon]

It's an interesting route to say the least. Our accounting department is considering going paperless.

Some things to consider: backups, backups, and more backups. Did I mention backups?

I'd gradually make the switch by first transferring less important paper. After a couple of months if you're feeling good about the system and get used to it, I'd gradually phase the rest of it out.

[clroberts]

Yeah, the company I work for is paperless.. Of course one wouldn't believe that since the company prints off billions of pages per year.

[el_novato]

I hear ya on the backups! I haven't decided what method to use for the backups.

I like the idea of starting with less important documents. I'm sure I will like this system once I get a good system in place. It would definitely be easier to keep track of. I think...

[mbossman2]

BTW, even "paperless" companies still have hard copy, off site file storage for certain select critical documents...they do not rely 100% on electronic copies

[David M]

Nothing beats a hard copy for proof of a signature or to prove that something has not been altered. Going in the direction of no paper is of course better but reaching the goal of no paper I think is impossible for the those reasons.

Would I want the deed to my house electronically?...No
Would I want my life insurance policy written electronically?..No
Would I want the title to my car electronically?...No
Would I sign an electronic contract for a contractor to do work to my house?....No.

Paper is just more secure and permanent and you can easily tell if it has been altered.

How is the average person supposed to tell if some so called secure electronic document has been altered? The average person can't. Try proving that to a jury. You're typical jury might rule against you for not getting something on paper as well. I doubt any judge would sign a legal document other than one written on paper. Would you want you're stay of execution written on a computer document?...

As a practical matter, you don't need a computer to read a paper document, they can be read anywhere.

[ktkendall]

You just would not want to let that external HD be the only backup copies you keep. You definately want to store backup files on some type of disks or tapes, and store in a safe place.

[David M]

If it is something you absolutely cannot lose I would consider two copies in a safe deposit box.

[homer15]

like everyone else said, you should still retain your hard copies... the nice thing about a paperless system is you don't necessarily need the best filing system for them now, though.
what i would suggest is to get a scanner with an automatic document feeder, and as you scan in docs, somewhere in their label or properties, put the scan date. then bundle everything you scanned on that date in one package, and store it in your garage or something. that way if you do need hard copies for some reason, you can look at the document, get the scan date, then just pull out that batch and sift through it. i would keep stuff for no less than 5 years.

[el_novato]

Very interesting points to say the least.

My goal is to reduce the everyday paper clutter. No, I wouldn't want a car title, deed,
or any other legal or legally binding document in an electronic format. Those types of docs
I would definetely keep the originals in a safe place. I think I would only do this with
bills, payment receipts and other paperwork that I need to keep but isn't considered a
crucial document such as those mentioned by DavidM. So again, reduce it, but not
eliminate it.

I'm thinking backups would be to DVD because of the increased capacity as opposed to CDs,
ZIP disks and or floppies.

e.n.

[homer15]

i don't know how much you're planning on scanning, but i think a dvd backup might be overkill. my company has been scanning all of our outgoing invoices (>10,000 documents a month) for 4 years now, and we're just now breaking the 40 gig mark.

[mbossman2]

things like bills? use electonic bill pay and electronic statements - i have most of my bills come in via softcopy (and pay them the same way).

most household documents really don't need to be kept for more than 1 year. I use this:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/mtg/20000518h.asp
as a thumbnail guide.

[piasabird]

Tape Backup is the best route to back up data.
Another idea is to have a backup server.

One way to do this might be to have something like Quick Books or some other software that can send out payments electronically and keep track of what was sent out to whom and whether it cleared or not.

I think some documents need to be kept longer like Checkbook Records, and Tax Returns, and any long-term assets like Loans for Cars, etc., which I would keep for 10 years. Things like Titles, and birth, death records shoud be on paper. Especially Insurance, and what not.

[Force Flow]

Both digital and paper storage have their uses. For instance, I've seen an office that had a fire where almost all of their paper records survived, while most of the disks and drives warped, cracked and melted. Why did the papers survive? Because they were packed together so tightly.

If it's something important to have, I'd say store it on paper and have a digital copy somewhere in a safe place. If it's not critical, digital should be fine.

[fleeingpepper]

If it's really important. Have stuff on HDD on computer, external HDD, HDD stored somewhere else, disc(s), and paper.

That seems overboard, I would personally use one hdd in a computer, external, and paper. You can use a disc instead of an external.