National Archives launches file scanning software

National Archives has released a file-profiling tool to help people manage digital data. Named Droid, which stands for Digital Record Object Identification, the open source software can scan millions of files at a time and identify hundreds of different file formats, including most document, audio, video and image files in common use. It can be used to filter results to establish how many files a person has, what format they are in, when they were last modified, what versions they have, and their age and size. It also provides data to help people find duplicate files which could be deleted to free up space. Individual files or entire repositories made up of billions of files can also be scanned by Droid, according to the National Archives. The organisation said it was important to release the tool because a "mountain of digital data continues to grow daily on hard drives across the world". The software was first developed by the National Archives in 2003 to help with digital archiving. It explained that the latest version is faster and more accurate than its predecessors and can be used by anyone wishing to explore the contents of their digital collections. Jessie Owen, head of digital continuity at the National Archives, said: "Droid was devised as a simple solution to the increasingly complex problems associated with managing digital data. The National Archives has made it available to anyone wishing to manage their files better from personal computers to businesses, charities and government departments." The software is part of the organisation's digital continuity service, which also provides guidance, risk assessment, access to the Digital Continuity Framework, a directory of commercial services and solutions to support the preservation of digital information. Last week Oliver Morley, chief executive at the National Archives, said that there were plans to "make alterations" to the UK government licencing framework, which provides a policy and legal overview for licencing the re-use of public sector information. He said talks on how it could be improved were taking place. Correction: This story was corrected on 9 March to make clear that the planned changes mentioned in the last paragraph will apply to the framework supporting the Open Government Licence, rather than to the licence itself. This article is published by Guardian Professional. For updates on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here.