Collection is one of the most underrated challenges in eDiscovery. Here’s a platform for cross-platform defensible eDiscovery collections to check out!

One of the reasons that collections are so challenging these days is the variety of platforms from which collection is often necessary. It’s no longer just Windows workstations, but MacOS and even Linux workstations that may be potentially responsive in discovery.

I recently met with the folks at Pinpoint Labs and received a demo of their recently released product CrossCopy, which provides cross-platform defensible and verifiable eDiscovery collections. Here are some of my observations.

Pinpoint Labs has been in the industry for over 15 years, and they have established an excellent reputation in the industry as experts in the industry overall, especially with defensible eDiscovery collections. And this is not their first product release, by any means. Their products SafeCopy and Harvester have been highly regarded for over a decade, and Pinpoint Labs also has a product designed for Sharepoint collections (appropriately called Sharepoint collector), as well as Pinpoint Cloud for eDiscovery cloud collections.

CrossCopy was released earlier this year, and it supports collections from Windows, Linux and macOS systems. The latter has been particularly challenging, as Jon Rowe, President & CEO of Pinpoint Labs told me when he said that “Apple’s silicon chips M1 and M2 have broken a lot of eDiscovery and forensic collection apps”.

CrossCopy has several features and capabilities that are important to forensically sound collection, including:

• The ability to select from multiple data sources, including file shares, individual files, and file lists.
• Multithreaded processing, so the collection process doesn’t get bogged down on large or difficult files.
• Reprocessing of errors to keep the collection process moving.
• Filtering collection by date range.
• Customized exclusion of file extensions based off a list provided by the user.
• Reporting options, including a tally summary, as well as file, folder and Hash lists.
• The ability to save settings for later re-use.
• Chain of custody tracking throughout the process, with 100% file copy verification using hash file comparison.
• Preservation of file system timestamps and metadata.

That last capability is key in the age of deepfakes, as evidence authentication has become more important than ever, and metadata plays a key role in that process.

Most importantly, CrossCopy is super easy to use with a straightforward user interface that anyone can learn in just a few minutes, so it would be easy for an eDiscovery collections professional to walk a custodian through navigating to their file collection, selecting the options and performing the collection. Here’s a partial example of the parameter selection for collection:

And here is the screen you see when the collection job is complete:

CrossCopy also has a simple, budget-friendly flat-rate pricing model with annual subscription single license and bundle pricing options. You can find their current prices here.

Jon and the Pinpoint Labs team told me they are working on an enterprise version of CrossCopy, which is targeted for release after the first of next year, so they are continuing to build software to support the collection needs of the legal community!

I’ve known Jon, VP of Sales Shane Havick, and the Pinpoint Labs team for years and have always been impressed by the capabilities and reliability of their collection products – they are uniquely qualified to address the continually evolving challenges of collection in developing a platform to support cross-platform defensible eDiscovery collections! For more information about CrossCopy, click here.

So, what do you think? What eDiscovery collections challenges has your organization experienced? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Disclaimer: The views represented herein are exclusively the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views held by my employer, my partners or my clients. eDiscovery Today is made available solely for educational purposes to provide general information about general eDiscovery principles and not to provide specific legal advice applicable to any particular circumstance. eDiscovery Today should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a lawyer you have retained and who has agreed to represent you.