Oh and when I archive something what I do is I'll clone the track after selecting all the takes/audio segments I want to use (basic editing/comping) then in the clone I'll delete are the unused takes, do whatever final edits (cropping, fades, that type of stuff) I want so it all sounds good and I'll bounce to clips to get one long clip/take. The I delete all the fragmented/empty lanes so I can simply work with the parent track or a single lane. I don't bounce the effects or anything when I do that so I can still screw around with parameters and such. It's basically just an editing clean up.
Then the original track gets archived just in case I want to try out the other stuff I laid down (particularly solos but sometimes certain rhythm performances, even if technically identical, sometimes sound better in a mix). I spend a loooong time making decisions on my final takes though so I've never actually gone back to my archived tracks except out of curiosity. However I like the idea of having all that there so maybe in 5, 10, 20 years I can do remixes based on the original recordings. Kind of like going into an old studio and finding a box of tape slices that hit the floor and adding new, but not new, flavor to an old fave.
Yes... this is the type of thing I think about. I'll definitely need to start investing in hard drives if I intend to keep this philosophy alive though. lol