I agree that Scanning important documents is a good idea. Having just weathered hurricane Isabel in the Carolinas, it reminded me that there is always room for improvement in family disaster preparation. I recognized the need to scan in my more important docs (and photos). It seems JPG, TIFF and PDF would be the most versatile formats. Including a viewer on the CD may also help.

My main concern with scanning these important documents is: how useful would a scanned copy of certain ones be?

Insurance papers, yeah, I can see that. But a what about birth certificate?

Certain documents only seem to be valid if they are a true, original copy. Others go so far as to state that it is illegal to duplicate them. The only birth certificate I have is a photocopy of the original, which clearly states "Duplication of this document by photostat or photograph is illegal". (For the record: my parents did this, not me; probably some time before I could walk or talk). I am in the process of getting an official replacement document.

The good news is that for a some of these "must be original to be valid" documents are easier to replace. I'm ordering 3 copies of my birth certificate, so I can keep one in a safe place in the house, one in a safety deposit box at a bank, and one at an off-site location. I will likely do the same with a CD of scanned docs/pictures when I create one.

Can anyone with any first-hand experience to chime in?