Is it possible to simply copy a droid's memory? In Trouble Brewing, R4 has a bunch of valuable astrogation data about the Kessel run which is why he's targeted. I don't understand why the gang bothered to take the droid rather than just copy all the data and then destroy him.

Any thoughts?

Maybe they didn't have a slicer with them? Or it required gear beefier than one would carry in a backpack to accomplish? I don't think data transfer is thumb drive convenient in Star Wars.

Yeah you'd have to have somehting to hold the memory in (perhaps a computer, or another droid's head) and the time & skill required to make the transfer.

Can Droid memory be copied? If droids develop their neural architecture as they learn, then it's quite possible that each Droid is unique (with the degree of variance getting larger the longer they go without a memory wipe). If this is the case, it would prevent droids from having serial immortality by simply transferring their mind/memories to another body.

Is it possible to simply copy a droid's memory? In Trouble Brewing, R4 has a bunch of valuable astrogation data about the Kessel run which is why he's targeted. I don't understand why the gang bothered to take the droid rather than just copy all the data and then destroy him.

Any thoughts?

In Clone Wars, an episode called "Evil Plans" there was a big massive contraption that was used just do droid torturing and to download the information once it was willingly given - took up the entire room. My guess is that the data/memory they hold is tied into their personality, so even if you could download a droid against their will, which likely would require something that holds more than a basic datapad - you'd still have to find some way, which is probably incredibly impractical and time-consuming, to extract the data you're looking for from the copy of their personality.

Can Droid memory be copied? If droids develop their neural architecture as they learn, then it's quite possible that each Droid is unique (with the degree of variance getting larger the longer they go without a memory wipe). If this is the case, it would prevent droids from having serial immortality by simply transferring their mind/memories to another body.

According to Wookiepedia, IG-88 straight out copies himself, personality and all, into 3 other identical droid bodies as soon as he gained sentience, and later on into the 2nd Death Star. So there definitely is a potential problem when it comes to droid PCs if you want to allow copying to be something that happens in your games. I would probably allow it in my games to fight off droid PC death, but possibly working around the rules of the Cerebral Stabilizer in Dangerous Covenants so it doesn't get too out of hand.

Those IG-88 stories definitely fall into parts of the EU that I cut out of my games. I think I prefer the idea that droids are not easy to copy, so that their deaths are actually meaningful.

Copying R2's memory is exactly what they try to do in TCW S1 Ep7. However, Obiwan mentions that the data is encrypted so it might take some time to do which would make it easier to just capture the droid if pressed for time.

I'd rule that you can't copy a droid's memory unless it's something the droid specifically recorded for posterity.

My reasoning is that there's no way droids keep a record of everything they see, hear and otherwise perceive. The memory required to store all that data (hi-def sound, high resolution recording, etc.) would be staggering. All you have to do is start the camera on your smartphone and see how quickly the megabytes tick away. Then imagine keeping it on 24/7. Sure, there are probably more efficient ways of storing data in the SW universe than we have here and now, but at the same time the recording devices are also infinitely more sophisticated and record in much higher quality. So that about evens out.

I have no idea how a true AI would remember past events, and I don't really think that the game requires that kind of detail. I'd just work on the assumption that they have a way of recalling things that more closely resembles organic memory than a video file saved to a hard drive. Of course, any droid could probably start recording to drive at will, but keeping a recording of everything ever experienced? Highly improbable. And if so, memory issues would lead to it overwriting older data within a week, maximum, and if this was how a droid retained memory then they'd all have memories that stretched no more than a week back in time.

My reasoning is that there's no way droids keep a record of everything they see, hear and otherwise perceive.

This is precisely what happened in that Clone Wars episode. R2 had all the data from all the previous mission it had done with Annakin and Obiwan stored; base locations, codes, attack plans, etc. That's the information Grevious wanted and why Annakin had to risk his life to get it back. Obiwan was surprised that Annakin didn't follow the general protocol and wipe the droids memory after every mission.

Also though NPC droids don't = hero droids they both have programming and goals. If the NPC droid goal is to follow directions of only it's master or it's only task is to keep data top secret that is what is going to do if that spitting out gibberish when you try to download the data or encrypt it to the nth degree that is what they will do. However, if you can convince them that their master's are jerks and offer up some bartering (bribes) to the droid they w ill happily help you out. I like what a player said during a game "This isn't like Skyrim where you can steal everything and no one will say anything about it." Same here the droid won't let you steal it away from it especially if it will cause it harm now or later.

Memory does not necessarily equal personality. In Star Wars lore, it's generally understood that a droid's "personality" comes from programming + the quirks the droid develops when foregoing memory wipes. So when transferring a droid's memory, there might be any number of data-corruption or hardware-malfunction risks that could factor into a personality change, which is a reasonable assumption as to why droids don't do it more often.

As to the original question:

Why didnt the gang copy and destroy the droid? (Paraphrased)

Short answer: plot

Longer answer: the droid would probably resist and any invasive procedure to rip out the info might damage or degrade the [mcguffin].

As to destroying it, they had no need. They probably didn't feel rushed/threatened and destroying an expensive droid would hurt the profit of the venture. Get the info, verify it then memory wipe the droid.

Now, I like to think that heuristic processors in star wars develop permanent payhways if lefy long enough, making a droid like R2-D2 highly resistant to memory wipes. This goes for player droids as well. Simply copying the info to a new 'brain' won't have the right pathways laid out and the result would be degraded or altered info. Droids, mostly, are sentient and sapient and their experiences will alter their memories. Much like how, with us a song or tactile sensation can bring back memories.

At best a copied memory will have the facts, but not the importance of said memory, and the droid may view it as a useless file, assuming droid brains are like computers, and delete it.

Star wars also doesn't suffer from the disposability that our society does today. Ships can be decades or even hundreds of years old and still operate. The star wars universe sees things as repairable rather than to be trashed, some exceptions do apply. The imperial procedure of jettisoning garbage is very wasteful. Though, jawas in a space cruiser could follow imperial ships around and collect the trash.

Since Droids are sentient, or semi-sentient, their information storage is probably similar to a human brain and as such dispersed, build over time and therefore individual, and most likely encrypted to the individual as well. So you may be able to copy it in it's entirety but gaining access to individual files and systems would be as possible as it would be to get the same from a Human brain. Because of this level of complexity getting a specific Droid "memory" would and should be pretty nearly impossible (hence the giant machine mentioned earlier). However if the information is a descrete, self contained file like the Death Star Plans or Leia's recorded message to Obi Wan then you could probably Slice to get at it but it would and should be almost as impossible if the Droid is actively fighting it.

When I ran this adventure, it was part of a larger adventure where my PCs wanted the data on the R4 for themselves as well to help navigate through the Kessel Run. I would only allow my PCs to acquire the data if the droid willing gave it to them, as the droid is manumitted and appears to be sentient as well.

So, assuming the droid is more sophisticated, I'd rule that if the PCs can convince the droid to give them whatever information they want willing, the droid is able to make a portable copy for them to use. If, however, they are trying to take it against the droids will, it requires a skilled slicer and a lot of time to go through all the information stored in the droid's memory. Probably a Daunting or Formidable task.

If, however, they are trying to take it against the droids will, it requires a skilled slicer and a lot of time to go through all the information stored in the droid's memory. Probably a Daunting or Formidable task.

Fair enough, but keep in mind the difference between what the Droid experiences and a discrete file containing information. as I mentioned unless the information is a discrete file added or copied into the Droid's storage it's not going to be something easily or even possible to be found in a directory. It's going to be scattered all over the Droid's "brain" similar to how human memory works.

I agree completely. However, in the context of the Trouble Brewing adventure, the information that everyone is interested in is the navigational data of the Kessel Run and surrounding system. I would say this is more technical than experiential.

I think the challenge would be that you can't just isolate a single item and rip it out. Even if you do copy it all, then you have to find what you want among all the other memories (basically every moment the droid has experienced since the last wipe). It's possible, but a huge resource drain (like stealing a whole library to get to one book) especially compared to just coercing the droid to cooperate.

The only other time I can think of in TCW where they tried to access a droid's memory was the episode where R2-D2 was captured by Grevious, and taken to some secret facility, dismantled, and hooked up to an apparatus where they intended to access his memory banks. So by canon, it's doable, but requires time and resources and is certainly an involved process.