Were the Death Star plans always in R2-D2?

Question

In "A New Hope" we see Leia recording a message into R2-D2's memory before she sends him down to the surface. Vader's men inspect the computers on the Tantive but find nothing, suggesting that the plans were being physically carried.

So was R2-D2 always the carrier of those plans (e.g. from the point that they were received, onward) or did Leia put the plans into Artoo at the same time she recorded the holo-message?

_{Cut-scene from "Lego Star Wars II"}

Wookieepedia seems to be of the view that what's shown in the above cut-scene is pretty accurate, although has no evidence to back it up! — Often Right, Sep 12 '15 at 07:21
I vaguely remember someone mentioning to Darth Vader that there were some files deleted from the ships computer prior to it being captured by the star destroyer... but have limited time at the moment to look for it. does anyone else recall that? — Malachi, Sep 29 '15 at 14:49

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 12 '15 at 09:37

17

We see more in A New Hope. Just as she records the message for R2 she also inserts a small disk/chip into one of his slots. With the plans not being found on the Tantive it was indicated thus that they were transferred onto a physical medium.

With her inserting the object (looked like a card for a card reader) into R2 I always took it that it was the Death Star's plans that were being inserted into R2.

edited Sep 12 '15 at 09:37

Valorum

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answered Sep 12 '15 at 09:25

Thomas

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Good find. I completely forgot that scene before. – Valorum Sep 12 '15 at 09:37
Tnx richard for the edit. I had searched for just that gif but didn't find it on google ^^ – Thomas Sep 12 '15 at 09:43
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I just created it using LICEcap screen recorder. – Valorum Sep 12 '15 at 09:44
That looks more like a disc to me... – Sep 12 '15 at 16:04
@Michael: It's square. – Lightness Races in Orbit Sep 12 '15 at 18:39
@Michael If we take into account WHEN the film was made.....CDs,... were nothing taht ppl thought about back then. At max. floppy disks (and if I'm not mistaken) not even that they came later. Thus it is probably leaned onto the punchcard design. – Thomas Sep 13 '15 at 12:03

Were the Death Star plans always in R2-D2?

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