For years we have been talking about the Exception Bin in Digital Forensics. In Electronic Discovery, this is typically referred to as the Exception Report. When searching through Electronically Stored Information (ESI), otherwise known as Computer Files, there are files that fail to be processed. This happens due to unsupported file types, encrypted files, corrupted files and deceptive methods used to hide illegal activity and secrets. These failed files either get copied to an Exception Bin disk storage location or just reported for future reference.
Are these files important to you? They should be. Especially if you don’t find the evidence that your case needs to be successful. Digital Forensics has a reputation for “leaving no stone unturned”, but how can you do that if your software tools fail? Many tools support only 500 file types. With an estimated 30,000+ file types in use world wide, that’s just a drop in the bucket. If your collections and review software is unable to process 20-40% of the files on a computer, shouldn’t you be concerned?
This Exception Bin has been our primary focus from the very beginning. While our File Investigator and File Expander API products are focused on empowering data processing centers to intelligently process every file, our Dark Data Detective software tool targets your exception bins. Rather than competing with your favorite imaging, collections, conversion and review platforms, we make it easy to analyze and filter those files that the other tools miss. We see our product as the tool that no investigator’s toolbox should be without. You can Drag n Drop a group of files, or browse to a folder full of your mystery files. We’re currently identify 4,900+ types of files, and support any other file types by informing you whether they contain compressed or encrypted data. During the month of August, 2025, we are offering 50% off of our Business and Professional Investigator versions, to celebrate the release of version 5.00 rewritten in C#.NET 64 bit. Take a look at Dark Data Detective, and sign up for future product update notifications and take advantage of these limited time discounts at the bottom of the Dark Data Detective page. We regularly update our “What’s Next?” page to keep our customers and fans up to date.
References
- “eDiscovery Document Triage Guide – Exceptions, File Types & OCR”, https://www.digitalwarroom.com/blog/ediscovery-document-triage-guide-exceptions-file-types-ocr#:~:text=Review%20exceptions%20and%20triage%20documents,There%20are%2032%20exceptions.
- “What are Exceptions?”, https://www.meridiandiscovery.com/articles/exception-handling-and-reporting-in-e-discovery/#:~:text=What%20are%20Exceptions?,Corrupt%20Files
- “eDiscovery Exception Report Overview”, https://documentation.commvault.com/11.42/essential/ediscovery_exception_report_overview.html