"Preface Welcome one and all. That isn't just a pleasantry, but my way of letting you know that whether you are an attorney, judge, paralegal, business manager or owner, or just one of the great un-labeled hordes, you will all benefit from what follows. We all live in a new world in which we are surrounded in an ever-deepening fog of data. The data define who we are, for better or worse. The data contain information about our livelihoods, our education, our finances (or lack thereof), our health (or lack thereof), our history, and probably our future. And yet very few of us understand how the data are created, where data are stored, or how to retrieve or destroy data (if that is indeed at all possible!). This book is for all of you, whatever your need or interest. In it we will discuss the reasons you need to know about electronic data as well as get into great detail about the how, what, when, and where of what is known in legal circles as ESI, or electronically stored information. You can use this as a reference and simply go to the chapters you are interested in, or read through if you like. I try to keep it entertaining and simple to understand, even when we get into some pretty esoteric engineering concepts. I'm pretty sure no one is planning to earn his or her computer science or electrical engineering degree with this book, so concepts will be as simple as possible and related to stories K13576.indb 13 3/7/12 9:49 AM xiv Preface and illustrations that will help make sense of these sometimes difficult ideas. So read on without trepidation, dear reader. I promise it will be enlightening, and perhaps even fun. If nothing else you will have some interesting new ways to entertain your geek friends or impress your non-geek friends at your next party"-- Provided by publisher.