← DF Sentinel/Offline & Air-Gapped
DF Sentinel · Offline & Air-Gapped

No cloud. No uploads. No phone-home.

Most tooling in this space now assumes a network — you upload the disk image, or the case management lives in someone else's cloud, or the licence quietly checks in with a server before it will run. DF Sentinel does none of that. Every stage happens on the machine in front of you, including licensing.

Talk to Us How offline licensing works
No telemetry, ever No licence phone-home Air-gap ready
DF Sentinel device safety screen showing every connected device write-blocked automatically
Every connected device is write-blocked automatically, entirely locally.
No Third Party In The Loop

Nothing about your collection leaves the building.

Most tooling in this space now assumes a network — you upload the disk image, or the case management lives in someone else's cloud, or the licence quietly checks in with a server before it will run. DF Sentinel does none of that.

Every stage — intake, imaging, file inventory, integrity validation, reporting — happens on the machine in front of you. Nothing about your collection is transmitted anywhere. There's no cloud service to procure, no account to create and no third-party data-processing agreement to negotiate, because there is no third party.

Including Licensing

The licence doesn't call home either.

That includes licensing: the software doesn't call home to verify itself. Pull the network cable out, or install it on a permanently isolated workstation in a secure room, and every function behaves exactly the same. For material under embargo, donor restriction, commercial confidentiality or data-protection constraints, that's often the difference between being able to process it in-house and not being allowed to touch it at all.

What "Offline By Design" Means

Four guarantees, not one marketing line.

No uploads. Media and images stay on your own storage, inside your own building.
No telemetry. Nothing about your files, your usage or your collection is reported anywhere.
No licence phone-home. No activation server, no periodic check-in, no expiry by disconnection.
Air-gap ready. Runs indefinitely on a workstation that has never been connected to a network.
For Sensitive Or Restricted Material

Evidence, not just a claim to take on trust.

If your institution needs to demonstrate controlled processing of sensitive material, this is the part that supports it: offline processing and the audit trail together provide technical evidence for your institution's controlled-processing policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions about offline & air-gapped use.

Does anything ever leave the building?
No — nothing, at any stage. Processing is fully offline and local: no telemetry, no cloud dependency, and no licence check-in with our servers either. The software runs identically with the network cable removed, so it can sit on a permanently air-gapped workstation. Nothing about a collection's contents leaves your building unless a member of staff deliberately exports it.
Does the licence stop working if the machine is never connected to a network?
No. The software doesn't call home to verify itself. Pull the network cable out, or install it on a permanently isolated workstation in a secure room, and every function behaves exactly the same, including licensing.
Is there a cloud service or account to set up first?
No. There's no cloud service to procure, no account to create and no third-party data-processing agreement to negotiate, because there is no third party. Every stage — intake, imaging, file inventory, integrity validation, reporting — happens on the machine in front of you.
Why does offline processing matter for embargoed or restricted material?
For material under embargo, donor restriction, commercial confidentiality or data-protection constraints, offline processing is often the difference between being able to process a collection in-house and not being allowed to touch it at all — nothing about the contents is transmitted anywhere.
Can this support our institution's controlled-processing policy?
Yes. If your institution needs to demonstrate controlled processing of sensitive material, offline processing and the audit trail together provide technical evidence for that policy, not just a claim to take on trust.
Part Of DF Sentinel

More from DF Sentinel.

Product Hub

DF Sentinel Overview

The full product — imaging, integrity validation, reporting and how we work with you.

 Legacy Media

Floppy Disk Imaging

Flux-level capture, read-only by physics, built for a shelf of disks at once.

 Write-Blocking

Honestly Explained

Software-based, verified by attempt — what that means and why it's the right trade-off.

 Digital Preservation

Beyond Capture-Time Hashing

Ongoing fixity monitoring, PRONOM format ID, Dublin Core metadata and BagIt export.

 Forensics

For Labs & Legal Teams

Chain of custody, dual-hash imaging and resumable acquisition, explained honestly.

 Specifications

What You Need To Run It

Windows 10/11, file systems, deployment and licensing — plainly stated.

 Sample Report

See The Output

A verdict-first summary, with a full technical appendix underneath.
Air-gap ready, out of the box

Talk to us about a fully offline deployment.

Tell us about your security requirements and we'll help you find the right fit.

Email us Opens your mail app Try the live simulator 028 9543 8520

No newsletters, no mailing lists, no marketing follow-up — whichever way you get in touch.

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