Write-once archive
The original files, kept exactly as they arrived.
Working files get moved, renamed, and cleaned up. The record of what a crew actually delivered should never change. RoverDrop copies every file to a write-once archive the moment a packet is submitted, verifies it against its checksum, and keeps it there, untouched by the retention rules that tidy day-to-day storage. When someone asks two years later what was delivered, the answer is a file, not a memory.
No account or email needed for the demo.
The record is whatever survived in a folder
Most firms do not have an archive. They have a working folder that someone hopes nobody deleted from. Files get reorganized, a drive gets cleaned up, a subcontractor's copy differs from yours, and a year later the “original” is whichever version happened to survive. When a dispute or an audit arrives, that is not a comfortable place to stand.
A write-once archive separates two jobs that should never share a storage system: the live files people work with, and the permanent record of what was delivered. The first can be tidied, moved, and deleted freely. The second is sealed the moment it is created and left alone.
Two copies, two different jobs
At submit, every file goes two places at once. One copy is live and can be managed like any working file. The other is sealed and kept for the life of the record. They never interfere with each other.
Working copy
Live- Downloaded, viewed, and processed by the office
- Ages out of storage on your firm's schedule once filed
- Keeps day-to-day storage lean and affordable
- Deleting it never touches the archive
Archive copy
Write-once- Sealed at submit, verified against its checksum
- Cannot be edited, overwritten, or deleted by users
- Exempt from the retention rules that clean working storage
- Provable byte-for-byte against the original for years
The archive copy is included on every plan and counts toward storage only once, never twice. Keeping the record is not an upsell; it is the point of the product.
What write-once means here
Four properties, all enforced by storage
These are not promises in a settings page. They are enforced by write-once object storage, so “you cannot change this” is a property of the system, not a rule someone could turn off.
Written once, at submit
The archive copy is made the instant a packet is submitted and verified, before anyone touches the files. There is no window in which the original could be altered before it is preserved.
Never overwritten
Write-once means exactly that. The stored object cannot be replaced or edited, by a user or an administrator. Corrections are new packets, so the original is always still there.
Untouched by retention
When filed packets age out of working storage to keep the app tidy, the archive copy stays. Retention housekeeping and the permanent record are two different systems on purpose.
Verifiable forever
Each archived file keeps its SHA-256 checksum. Years later you can prove the copy you are holding is byte-for-byte the file that was originally submitted.
If your firm wants its own copy on-premises, the archive can sync nightly to an office NAS or SharePoint, so the company always holds the record itself, not only in the cloud.
When the original is the only thing that settles it
In civil engineering, a set of plans or field data sheets can be revisited long after a project wraps, and the question is always whether you can produce the exact file that was delivered at the time. An archive that is provably unchanged is what lets you answer yes. Paired with the audit trail, you can show both the file and its full history, as part of the whole field-to-office file transfer record.
For more on why this matters in the field, read why write-once archive copies matter in construction and survey work.
Related
- Field-to-office file transferThe full handoff the archive is part of.
- Audit trail for file transfersThe history that points at each archived copy.
- Field file intake for civil engineeringWhere a provable original matters most.
- Why write-once archive copies matterThe case for a sealed copy of every packet.
See it in motion
See the archive copy get sealed
Submit a packet in the demo and watch the archive copy appear alongside the working files, marked write-once. No account or email required.