Pricing in tDAR

I am not sure how to budget for digital archiving of my upcoming project. What do you recommend?

We encourage you to look at some of our example projects on the pricing page—these include a range of real examples of project types (e.g. Monitoring, Survey, Data Recovery), the number of digital files they generate, and the cost to archive each in tDAR. You may also browse “projects” in tDAR to see the range of materials other users have archived to get a sense of where your project might fit. Once you’ve generated a rough estimate of the number of documents, data sets, images and other sensory data you might upload, use our pricing calculator to calculate upload costs.

What if I need to pay via a purchase order?

Please contact us and we will help you produce an invoice that can be used to obtain a purchase order from your institution or business.

What if I have files larger than 10 MB?

Like Dropbox or other services, the total space purchased is pooled across all your files, not dedicated to a specific file.  In order to purchase additional storage for large files contact us.

Why is this more expensive than Dropbox or Google Drive?

The costs involved with digital archiving are different from those of simple file storage.  Digital Antiquity, a not-for-profit organization, is committed to the long-term preservation of your data.  This includes not only maintaining the files that you submit, but ensuring they're usable in the future. 

Is there a fee to access files?

No, tDAR records and associated metadata can be viewed by anyone accessing tDAR, but one must register and agree to our Terms of Use in order to view or download a file.  There is no charge for registering as a tDAR user.

How long do I have to use my space?

Digital Antiquity advocates purchasing space in increments approximating what might be used within a year.

How does pricing work for GIS Files?

Some GIS files, like Shapefiles are priced differently, due to how they work. Shapefiles, and geo-rectified images often require more than one actual file to work properly. Pricing for these files works as follows: each image, or Shapefile is treated as a single file within tDAR. Thus, if a user uploaded "untitled.shp", "untitled.dbf", "untitled.prj", and "untitled.shp.xml" the combination of these four files would be treated as a single file for pricing. If, the file was larger than 10 MB, it would still require additional space to cover the MB used. See Creating or Editing a Geospatial File. 

Billing Accounts

What does a Billing Account do?

What happens if I forget to add an invoice to an account?

If you have one billing account already, tDAR will automatically add the invoice you just created to your existing account.

If you do not have a billing account, or have multiple billing accounts, tDAR will generate an additional or new account for the invoice. You will still have access to the space your purchased. See Creating & Managing a Billing Account. 

What if I forget my password?

Go to the tDAR  login page. Click on the "Reset Password" link.