A 2002 study by researchers at UC Berkeley estimated that new stored information grew about 30% each year between 1999 and 2002.

In the summer of 2003 UC Berkeley updated their research data and found that hard drives store the most new information. About 92% of new information is stored on magnetic media, primarily hard disks. Film represents 7% of the total, paper 0.01%, and optical media 0.002%.

To put that into perspective, a bankers box holds approximately 2500 sheets of printed documents or about 50 Megabytes (50MB) of computer disk space. Now compare the average laptop that has between 25 Gigabyte (25GB) and 50 Gigabytes (50GB) of hard drive storage space. If the laptop was filled to capacity with electronic documents it would take approximately 500 to 1000 banker boxes to hold all of the documents if they were in printed format.

Lawyers need to understand that electronic discovery should be a part of almost every case. Technology is growing at a rapid pace and as a result, companies are finding it to be very cost effective to store their information electronically. E-mails are replacing letters, and file servers are replacing filing cabinets, and as a result electronic discovery is more importance than ever.

SGC Computer Forensics, LLC experts are skilled in the fields of data retrieval and computer forensics. We will work closely with your legal staff to turn electronic data into electronic evidence. Electronic discovery obtained using forensically sound tools and methods provides an invaluable tool in litigation to prevent the loss, corruption, or alteration of critical electronic evidence.