Desktop Scanner

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Haole Boy

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Aloha everyone. This is a question for me. I have a stack of old legal documents that are taking up too much space and I'm not ready to shred them yet. For now, I would like to scan them to PDFs and then burn the PDFs to DVD and also store in the cloud. The scanner I have is built into my HP AIO printer / scanner and is very slow and is also placing marks on the paper due to disintegrating rollers.

So, I'm trying to find a desktop scanner. Someone I know has a ScanSnap machine they are quite happy with, but the ScanSnap iX1500 is $400. Which seems a bit much as once I have all these documents scanned, I will probably scan 1 or 2 pages per month.

Any recommendations on other desktop scanners?

Mahalo,

Harry Z
 
What size are the pages (and, in this case, it would be more handy to know the maximum page size for the biggest individual page as well as the typical and smallest page sizes).

Unless you are in a great rush, and it sounds like you aren't, you may be able to use pretty much any multi-function with flat-bed scanner if you don't absolutely, positively need a document feeder. There are plenty of desktop units with a document feeder that are far less than $400.

Take a look at Canon's MX Series or the TS9500 in the TS Series, or bargain TR Series if you must have a document feeder. There are lots of other options in all of those series, and the MG Series, if you don't.

If you've got documents on larger than A4 size paper, you're likely to have to go to a flatbed with no feeder if you want to keep cost down or pay through the nose for a scanner/multi-function that handles larger paper sizes with a feeder.
 
The Dropbox app does an excellent job of scanning direct to PDF. What you get is totally clear, black and white, multi-page PDFs which in a couple of taps are uploaded to your account. If you don’t want to store them there permanently, you can use the desktop app to put them where you like. This is how I scan nowadays.
 
Diggs said:
Just a reminder that paper documents easily last 100s of years if needed. Not so with CDs, DVDs and the like. ....and the cloud? Hmmm....
Click to expand...

This is true, but you need the storage space for them, which is the issue for many of us. Then, if you have that, you need to organize them in such a way as to be able to access them conveniently at an unforeseen later date. That very seldom happens.

I have never lost an electronic document, period. And over the course of decades I have been "propagating forward" digital material from platform to platform, so fresh copies (and usually multiple copies, if I include backup media) exist.

That's a far safer and more convenient option for me than keeping paper, and I used to keep paper but stopped doing so unless I know for certain that the paper would need to be produced during a warranty period. After that, the first time I touch it, it's gone.
 
Also.....for normal businesses like ours, we don't WANT to keep things in perpetuity. In fact, if you ask your attorney, he will tell you this is a bad idea. If you need to keep things for 7 years (for example) for tax purposes, then you should be deleting stuff when it gets older than that. If you ever get sued and you have kept a 10-year-old piece of correspondence that implicates you, that can be discovered. If you don't have it, it cannot be discovered.

Digital permanence is a really hard problem if you are the Library of Congress. It's easy if you are a business -just delete it!
 
...and digital format is something else to consider - I have some 8" floppies from an IBM Datamaster running BRADS (Business Report and Development System) from an old company of mine that I would like to have that info again. I have no doubt the media has probably failed much less the format. Heh.... :rolleyes:
 
Diggs said:
...and digital format is something else to consider
Click to expand...

That really is "the endless struggle" for digital archivists.

There are some formats, e.g., MP3, that will probably be decodable "in perpetuity" at this point, but others related to versions of proprietary software long gone, or early encoding methods long out of favor and that were, in their time, very dependent on single (or very limited number) source hardware that are much thornier.

Even if you keep copies that prevent issues with media degradation, you may still not have the means readily available to get at the actual content. I'd say that's true today for (admittedly analog) content on Betamax videotape and becoming rapidly so for VHS.
 
I've recommended the ScanSnap scanners many times, and while people resist and balk at the price, they've all been beyond pleased with the results.

Buy yourself a new or used one for the project. Keep if you want. Or just turn around and sell it when you're done. You'll be glad you did. They just work. And they're fast.
 
timeshifter said:
I've recommended the ScanSnap scanners many times, and while people resist and balk at the price, they've all been beyond pleased with the results.

Buy yourself a new or used one for the project. Keep if you want. Or just turn around and sell it when you're done. You'll be glad you did. They just work. And they're fast.
Click to expand...

I was amazed the first time I saw one of these devices in action. It wasn't actually a ScanSnap but a Kodak of similar design. I remember loading it up and calling everyone in the office over like "just look at this thing go"

It took less than 1s per page and could scan both sides at the same time.
 
Mahalo everyone for the replies. The dropbox and phone apps sound interesing, but I really do want an autofeeder as this is 4 inch high stack of paper, both letter and legal size.

I will talk with my friend about borrowing / renting it for the day.

Again, thanx for all the suggestions!

Harry Z
 
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