We will have some important announcements on March 5th, on ways that Government Agencies can save time and money for IT, Records Management, and eDiscovery, while reducing the risk of a potential lawsuit.

For more information about attending Alliance Northwest, please visit their website at http://alliancenorthwest.org/

The post eDiscoverySquad to Exhibit at Alliance Northwest, “Where Government and Business Connect” appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

There is good news, eDiscoverySquad and the Library of Congress has some free and easy to use tools to help you in the process.

The post Free tools to Help Stressed Paralegals (used by the Library of Congress)! appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

We are pleased to announce recognition as a Certified Google Apps Deployment Specialist.  This includes a rigorous examination that covers eDiscovery software called “Google Vault” for legal holds, compliance implementations, email, calendar, and contact migrations as well as mobile device management for popular systems like Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo, Blackberry Enterprise Server, Lotus Notes, and other web based email systems.   Mobile devices supported include Android, Apple IOS, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.

If you are considering a move from any of these systems to Google Apps, contact us for a free consultation today.

Last December, we also received recognition as a Google Apps Sales Specialist.

The post eDiscoverySquad, LLC receives second Google Apps Certification appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

This is a free utility to take an inventory of drives attached to a PC running Windows.   It can be run from a removable drive, and will make a file name based on the name of the PC, and list out all the drives and related information about them.

This can be used to inventory all of the windows PC’s during a collection to make sure all drives have been copied.

It currently written in C# requires Microsoft .NET to be installed on the PC.   We are working on a c++ version that will not require this.   The next version will also have an option to invoke robocopy and generate a file listing and/or copy the drive to current drive.

Contact us at support@ediscoverysquad.com to register for updates.

For more about robocopy see our http://ediscoverysquad.com/how-to

Here is an example of the output of this program.

You can get a copy of the program here:

http://ediscoverysquad.com/files/DiskFinder.zip

This programe is being run from: C:UsersJeffDesktopDiskFinder (2)DiskFinderbinDebug

Computer Name: JEFF-PC
Number of Drives: 6
Drive – C:
Drive Type: Fixed
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: Boot Drive
File System Type : NTFS
Free Space: 30021926912
Total Drive Size: 240055742464

Drive – D:
Drive Type: Fixed
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: Application Data
File System Type : NTFS
Free Space: 42462507008
Total Drive Size: 240054693888

Drive – E:
Drive Type: Fixed
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: Output Processing
File System Type : NTFS
Free Space: 75996823552
Total Drive Size: 480101003264

Drive – F:
Drive Type: Fixed
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: Temporary File Storage
File System Type : NTFS
Free Space: 50895007744
Total Drive Size: 500104687616

Drive – G:
Drive Type: Fixed
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: Output Processing Drive 2
File System Type : NTFS
Free Space: 144843849728
Total Drive Size: 480101003264

Drive – H:
Drive Type: CDRom
Drive Ready Status: True
Volume Label: F9L1002v1
File System Type : UDF
Free Space: 0
Total Drive Size: 57573376

Here is the source code for the program:

/*

* copyright (c) 2012, 2013, eDiscoverySquad, LLC.
* All Rights Reserved
*
* Date created: December 23rd, 2012
*
* DiskFinder.cs
*
* Author(s): Paul Aquino, Jeffrey Goodwin
*
*
*
* This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
* modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
* License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
* version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
*
* This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
* Library General Public License for more details.
*
*
* Notwithstanding the foregoing, you must:
*
* a) register to use this software by sending an email to: support@ediscoverysquad.com, and include the site description of where the software will be used
*
* b) Maintain eDiscoverySquad, LLC copyright notice and credit for the user of the program
*
* In order to use the program, you need to download Microsoft .NET 3.5 or later. Note, that we are working on a version of this program which does not require Microsoft .NET.
* Please contact us if you need this version.
*
*/

using System;
using System.IO;
/*
<summary>
A console program that is intended to run from an external drive which is attached to a PC. The program will record system information including the following:
* The computer name
* The number of drives in the system
* The file system type for each drive
* The properties of each drive, e.g., size, number of files, and space allocation
*
</summary>
*/
public class DiskFinder
{

/* <summary>
* The programs’ central point of control.
* There are no input arguments.
* </summary>
*/

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
/*
* Get computer drives info. This builds an array that contains the total number of drives, and characterizes the type of file system on each drive.
*
*/

DriveInfo[] mySystemDrives = DriveInfo.GetDrives();

/*
* Write the Drive Information to the output file
*/

WriteDrives(mySystemDrives);

} /* end of program */
/* <summary>

* WriteDrive method writes local drives information to the text file.

* Input Parameter: <param name=”my_driv”> Array of type DriveInfo that represents the logical drives on a computer.</param>

* Return Value: None

* </summary>

*/

public static void WriteDrives(DriveInfo[] my_driv)
{

/*
* Define output file name listing to be concatenated to computer name for the purpose of output file naming convention
*/
string OutputFileListingSuffix = ” DriveListing.txt”;

/*
* Define Text Labels to be used for entries written to the information file listing
*/

string DriveIDLabel = “Drive – “;
string FileSystemTypeLabel = “File System Type : “;
string ComputerNameLabel = “Computer Name: “;
string NumberofDrivesLabel = “Number of Drives: “;
string DriveTypeLabel = “Drive Type: “;
string VolumeLabel = “Volume Label: “;
string FreeSpaceLabel = “Free Space: “;
string TotalDriveSizeLabel = “Total Drive Size: “;
string CurrentDriveLabel = “This programe is being run from: “;
string IsReadyLabel = “Drive Ready Status: “;

/*
* Set up and open target text file. Replace pathName in StreamWriter(“pathName”) to your target text file.
*/
System.IO.StreamWriter targetFile = new System.IO.StreamWriter(Environment.MachineName + OutputFileListingSuffix);
/*
* Write current drive and directory to output file
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(CurrentDriveLabel + Environment.CurrentDirectory);

/*
* Writing local computer name and number of local drives.
*/
targetFile.WriteLine(ComputerNameLabel + Environment.MachineName);

targetFile.WriteLine(NumberofDrivesLabel + my_driv.Length);
/*
* put an extra line between each drive information listing
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(“n”);

/*
* Traverses each drive in the drives array and writes drive name and format to results.txt.
*/

foreach (DriveInfo d in my_driv)
{
try
{
/*
* Write the Drive Name
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(DriveIDLabel + d.Name);

/*
* Write the Drive Type, e.g. Fixed, DVD, etc.
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(DriveTypeLabel + d.DriveType);

/*
* Is Ready Status
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(IsReadyLabel + d.IsReady);

/*
* Write the Volume Label
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(VolumeLabel + d.VolumeLabel);
/*
* Write the File System Type, e.g. NTFS, FAT, UDF (DVD drive)
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(FileSystemTypeLabel + d.DriveFormat);
/*
* Write the drive space information
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(FreeSpaceLabel + d.TotalFreeSpace);

targetFile.WriteLine(TotalDriveSizeLabel + d.TotalSize);
/*
* put an extra line between each drive information listing
*/

targetFile.WriteLine(“n”);
}
catch {
targetFile.WriteLine(“exception encountered”);
}
} /* end for */

/*
* close the file handle
*/

targetFile.Close();

} /* end of WriteDrives() */
} /* end of DiskFinder class */

The post Free Utility to get an Inventory of Drives attached to a PC, includes source code appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

It’s official now, Google Vault which does eDiscovery for Gmail is now now available to existing business customers.    However, it is not yet available for Government customers.

See the announcement from Google here.

After enabling Vault on the Google dashboard, you can log into ediscovery.google.com and use it to place legal holds.

Another feature that Google Apps has is the ability to make custom internal websites with forms to distribute to users that can track and specifically require acknowledgement from custodians about the legal hold and need to preserve data.

Enterprises use product like Legal Hold Pro to do this, and this type of functionality can be produced inexpensively and quickly with Google Apps Sites and Forms.

Jeffrey Goodwin

Founder

eDiscoverySquad, LLC

www.ediscoverysquad.com

The post Official announcement by Google on Vault availability for legal holds appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

In a recent discussion last week with Jenni Williams, Channel/Client Relationship Manager for Google, I learned that the processes of setting up a procedure to amend the terms and conditions for Google Apps customers to cover Google Vault is nearly final and the only loose end before the large scale roll out begins.

Ms. Williams said that there are no API’s for Google Vault yet, but this will be an area to watch as eDiscovery kicks into high gear for Google.   There are already a number of data management tools such as Google Active Directory Synch – GADS , Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® Exchange  - GAMME, which can move ESI related to user identities, email, calendar, and contacts.  GAMME can use IMAP to connect with a wide variety of email providers, such as Microsoft® Exchange Server (2000, 2003, 2007 or 2010) or IMAP server (any RFC 3501-compliant IMAP server, including Microsoft® Exchange, Novell Groupwise, Cyrus, Courier, Dovecot, SunMail, Zimbra, and Gmail), or work directly with .PST files.

Both GAMME and GADS also support a command line scripting ability and can be launched in the back ground.

Prior to Google Vault, Google customers had their email routed through Postini for eDiscovery.   However, gradually the features of Postini have been migrated into Gmail, and the Google Vault addition will be the final step to begin the process of migrating users away from Postini.

Watch for more developments to pick up in this specialized area.

Jeffrey Goodwin

Founder, eDiscoverySquad, LLC

http://ediscoverysquad.com/about-us

The post Google expected to roll out Vault (for Legal Holds) to existing business Gmail users very soon appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

This is a video interview of a law firm with 20+ lawyers, who have moved to Google Apps.   During the interview, the key partners estimate that they have saved $450K in IT costs over 5 years by moving their law firm to Google Apps.

The approach used was consultative to find out the goals of the firm, and then figure out how to implement them in Google Apps resulting in increased collaboration, ease of use, and offsite anywhere/anytime access to critical information.

To see a video overview about Google Apps click here.

http://ediscoverysquad.com/google-apps

With recent developments in the last month, Google Apps is shaping up to be a powerful platform now and in the future for Law Firms.

Google Vault is available now as an App for Google to do compliance archiving and eDiscovery.   It allows “matters” to be defined, and tags your email and attachments with the “Matter ID”.   When I am involved in eDiscovery engagements, I often see my clients using these “Matter ID’s” in the subject line of their email, and this concept extends very easily to Google Vault.

Kent Walker, Google Senior Vice President and General Counsel gives his perspective on Google Vault:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZd_hIln1-I

Another powerful feature for law firms is to setup a Google Voice number (includes free nationwide calling), and see all of your telephone calls including time and duration in a consolidated log.  Voice mails automatically are copied to email, and are transcribed by a speech to text engine that is included by Google.

http://www.obihai.com/obiplus.html

The OBI 110 Device (< $50) can work with your existing cordless phones at home, and the OBI 202 (< $75) handles up to 12 extensions and works with cost effective ( < $100 ) IP Phones from Cisco.

I use this type of a system everyday and have been very pleased with it.   When filling out my time cards, I can go back an look at exactly how long a teleconference took, and easily search for text in my Voice mails.

One limitation with Google Voice is that it doesn’t handle Fax, so you will need to setup an online Fax service and route the faxes to your Gmail.   However, this is less and less of a problem as most folks scan these days anyway.

The post 20+ sized law firm saves $450K in IT Lifecycle by moving to Google Apps appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

Google has appointed eDiscoverySquad as an Enterprise Reseller for Google Apps suite of communication and collaboration tools.

eDiscoverySquad has been appointed by Google to be an Authorized Reseller based on its expertise and success in helping customers deploy and use Google Apps.

“Google Apps allows customers unparalleled security, and access to their emails 24/7 with a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee.  With the addition of Google Apps, eDiscoverySquad not only saves customers money on their IT infrastructure and services, but prepares them to help identify potential or actual legal problems as they arise through the additional of Google Vault archiving and our eDiscovery services for trial.” said Jeffrey Goodwin, Founder, eDiscoverySquad.

The Google Apps Reseller program includes companies globally that sell, service and customize Google Apps for Business for their customers. As a part of the Apps Reseller program, eDiscoverySquad receives training, support and deployment tools from Google, as well as access to APIs for integrating Google Apps into their customers’ business operations.

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