system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Rogue One] Why does the Scarif facility use such an unwieldy data-storage system?

The files themselves are stored on devices the size of a VHS tape, which mades sense to me, because it's a big plot point that the file size is ginormous. But once the rebels receive the file they store it on something the size of a credit card.

And the storage system is incredibly slow. You can automatically turn on a little light next to required file, but to retrieve it you need to use an incredibly slow and awkward manual system? Why not just automatically deliver the required file? No wonder those guys were appalled when asked to call up someone's entire correspondence history.
gpt
For security purposes, the Empire never stores sensitive information on publicly accessible servers. It's just too easy to have a security breach, and stable networked communications are extremely difficult to establish on interplanetary scales to make easy access useful. If you want your files, you have a local copy or you go retrieve a copy and fill out the paperwork to do so (which would probably be denied for something as important as the Death Star plans).

The box they pulled out was an archival drive that contained the schematics. It would be akin to pulling tape backups from a contemporary data center.