# Acquisition verification checklist

Version 1.0 | 2026-10-22 | CC0-1.0

Use within an authorized scope and alongside required organizational procedures.

- [ ] Define the question, source, authority, systems/accounts, and time range.
- [ ] Identify volatile or expiring records and document preservation decisions.
- [ ] Record initial state, acquisition method, tool version, and settings.
- [ ] Record start/end times with offsets and any clock uncertainty.
- [ ] Preserve acquisition logs, errors, unreadable areas, and skipped records.
- [ ] Identify all output segments and companion files.
- [ ] Record file sizes, hash algorithm, and exactly what each hash covers.
- [ ] Compare copy/transfer hashes over the same bytes. Investigate mismatches.
- [ ] Record handling and transfers independently from content hashes.
- [ ] Check expected collection coverage; a matching hash is not completeness.
- [ ] Preserve originals and document working-copy/derivative relationships.
- [ ] State what was unavailable and what cannot be concluded.