Archive Witness

Getting started

Archive Witness is an evidence-oriented catalog for files you intend to keep. Its normal workflow is conservative: observe first, then make an explicit decision when you want a new location or file version to become accepted evidence.

1. Keep a real backup

Archive Witness is not a backup system. Keep important files on separately managed storage and keep portable checksum manifests somewhere other than the archive they describe.

2. Register the archive

Choose the registration mode that matches what you know about the archive.

Inventory-only files are not read for checksum, integrity, or media actions. When a selection mixes Protected and Inventory-only files, the confirmation identifies the Inventory-only files that will be skipped. Change the archive's file-scope policy to Protected before reading those files. Any older checksum or media evidence retained from an earlier Protected policy remains historical evidence.

A newly opened archive begins read-only. Read-only is the normal state for checking, comparing, and reviewing evidence.

Local folders, UNC network paths, and mapped network drives are supported. Archive Witness keeps the path you select. A UNC archive remains tied to that server/share path. A mapped-drive archive follows that Windows drive-letter mapping if you later point it to another network location. Windows can confirm a stable volume identity for local and removable storage, but not the physical storage behind a network share. If an archive is offline, click its status to retry or use Locate archive to update its saved location.

3. Understand the three file concepts

For each file, Archive Witness separates Location, Integrity, and Media. A file can be in the expected place but fail an integrity check, or match its saved checksum while a media decode test reports a problem.

Right-click any file-table column header to add or remove columns. Archive Witness saves one layout for aggregate views and another for individual archive views. The Archive column is shown by default in aggregate views and hidden by default when one archive is selected.

Large result sets are shown in bounded pages. The footer reports the displayed range and total matching files; use the beginning, previous, record-number jump, next, and last controls to replace the current page. Search, column-header filters, and column-header sorting apply to the complete catalog, not merely the visible page. The sorted column shows its direction. Clear all filters removes every column filter but deliberately keeps the separate global search text. The default page size is 5,000 files and can be changed under Settings → Advanced settings. Very large pages can make the application slow or unstable.

Archive Witness normally performs a metadata-only refresh of online archives when it starts. Settings → Startup refresh changes the global default. In an archive's own settings, the Startup refresh toggle can override that default for a large or slow archive, or Use global default can return it to the global behavior. Archive-specific changes save immediately.

Archive settings can keep their own checksum, file-scope, and content-read choices or use the global default independently for each category. The effective choice remains visible while a global default is in use, and the archive's last explicit choice is restored if you turn inheritance off later. Content-read changes save immediately. Checksum and file-scope changes are applied when you select Done; file-scope changes run as a visible catalog job because large archives can take time to reclassify. Changing the global file-scope default uses the same background-job path for every archive that inherits it, and the new default takes effect when that job succeeds. Reclassification does not read file contents, accept locations, or replace saved checksum evidence.

Ctrl+A selects the files shown on the current page. After selecting the complete page, Select all matching files creates a logical selection without loading every row into the interface. Content checks and media tests can turn that selection into durable queued work. Decisions that change accepted locations, removals, versions, or duplicate authority remain page-reviewed.

The Jobs pane shows the newest 50 summaries plus any older unfinished work needed for safe resume. Select Hide completed when you want a shorter active list; Archive Witness remembers that choice across restarts without deleting job history. View more job history… at the bottom of the list opens the complete durable history in pages of 1,000 jobs. Complete append-only logs remain on disk. A job that finishes while its live Details window is open keeps that displayed tail until the window closes; later Details views open an ordinary saved log automatically, while compressed older logs offer Load saved log.

4. Check before accepting

Use Check integrity to completely read selected files and compare current checksums with saved checksum evidence. The check records an observation; it does not replace the saved reference.

If a file appears somewhere unexpected, checking it does not automatically accept that path. If review shows the file belongs there, use Accept location. If you also want the current bytes to become the saved reference, use the stronger Accept location and save checksum.

If current bytes differ from the accepted version and you intend to adopt the change, use Accept current version. Archive Witness shows which recent checksum observations are available and lets you choose whether to use them or read the file again.

5. Use independent evidence when it helps

You can import or compare checksum manifests, compare peer archives, and test supported media independently. Strong conclusions come from understanding what each source of evidence actually establishes rather than collapsing them into one “good/bad” result.

6. Keep evidence portable

Export checksum manifests after establishing or updating important baselines. Keep Archive Witness catalog data and logs backed up on healthy storage, especially during recovery work.

7. Know where application data is stored

The installed application stores catalogs, evidence history, settings, and job logs in %USERPROFILE%\Archive Witness Data. It does not copy registered archive files into this folder. Settings shows the exact location; click the displayed path to open the folder.

Update, Repair, Reset, reinstall, and uninstall leave this folder in place. To remove all retained Archive Witness application data, uninstall the application and then delete %USERPROFILE%\Archive Witness Data.

8. Keep the beta current

Install the direct beta through the website's Install with updates link. Windows checks the beta channel for a newer signed package when Archive Witness starts, no more than once every 24 hours. An available update does not block opening the current version. The website also keeps a standalone MSIX as a manual recovery download. See Install, update, and switch release channels before moving between Beta and Stable, especially when Beta is newer.