What happens when your case goes dormant? Tameca Brooks of S2|DATA discusses the strategic value of tape storage vs. HDD storage.

Her post (Overcoming Dormant Case Data Challenges from ARM Archives: The Strategic Value of Tape Storage in eDiscovery, available here) lays out the potential issues with HDD storage, as follows:

A law firm managed a litigation case that remained active for five years before being stayed. At the time of the stay, the firm requested an ARM archive (Archive – Restore – Move) from its eDiscovery vendor. The vendor exported the archive, stored it on an encrypted HDD, and shipped it to the firm.

The HDD remained in the firm’s possession for several years while the case was dormant. However, as often happens, the litigation was unexpectedly reactivated, requiring the firm to locate the HDD and restore the ARM archive to an active Relativity workspace. This process, however, was fraught with challenges:

1. Missing password for the encrypted HDD.
2. Vendor no longer existed, having been acquired during the dormant years.
3. Vendor’s project management team had departed, leaving no clear point of contact.
4. Changes in the legal case team, leading to gaps in institutional knowledge.
5. HDD failure, further complicating data restoration.

These obstacles underscored the complexities of long-term eDiscovery data management and the risks of inactive litigation ARM archives.

This isn’t a hypothetical scenario – it’s an actual S2|DATA client project. Tameca describes the steps that S2|DATA had to go through (and the significant costs the client incurred) resulting from the additional work.

So, what is the strategic value of tape storage in this situation? And what’s the “key takeaway”? Find out here, it’s only one click! This information is anything but dormant! 😉

So, what do you think? Have you ever had a case that went dormant for a long period of time? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

Image created using OpenArt, using the term “robot IT person working in a data center with tape drives”.

Disclosure: S2|DATA is an Educational Partner and sponsor of eDiscovery Today

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.