The hardest part? Getting the right hardware to run the old binaries without the sleek UI fluff. Old CPUs, old OSes, and those quirky file formats that only a handful of people remember to write drivers for. If you lose the machine or the firmware that boots the OS, the code is just a string of assembly in a box. So keep a spare copy of the boot firmware, a clean version of the operating system, and a list of the exact drivers you need. Anything rounded‑cornered in the UI can be a sign that the software’s about to become a museum piece you can’t use again.