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Don't Touch E-discovery Data

By Ken Smiley
September 29, 2006

I am frequently asked about best practices in collecting electronically stored information (ESI) and how data collections should, or should not, be performed. While collections will certainly vary from matter to matter based on the objectives at hand, there are some general best practices that should be followed in all matters, particularly when it comes to touching the data.

Options Are Available

In today's world, there is no magical way to collect electronic data without 'touching' it in some regard. The goal is to minimize the touching and avoid disturbing or changing the data or metadata (data about the data) at all costs. The primary decision that needs to be made is in what manner the data should be touched. For a small percentage of cases, a complete image of a hard drive or other piece of media may be required. There are a variety of imaging tools on the market, most of which are proven to provide sound data collection without altering any data or metadata. For the vast majority of cases, a collection of 'live' files, or a subset of those files, will be enough to satisfy the requirements of the matter.

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