Regular backups are essential for continuity, availability, and integrity of your data. Without proper backups, your data and work can be lost permanently in the event of system failures, data corruption, or other unforeseen circumstances.
For Intella cases, backups serve several important purposes:
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Recovery from case corruption:
If a case file becomes corrupted or inaccessible, backups allow you to recover the case data and any annotations or work product. Without a backup, it may be impossible to recover the work done on a corrupt case. -
Restoring annotations:
If a case becomes corrupt during the review and analysis process, annotations such as tags, comments, and flags can be imported into a backed-up version of the case. This allows you to pick up where you left off without losing the work already completed. -
Archiving old cases:
When archiving an old case, archiving the Intella installer along with the case data will allow for faster opening of the case in the future. Thorough notes on the case should also be included, such as data details, software versions used, and any issues encountered.
Recovery & Restoring annotations
It may occur that a case will no longer open. Possible causes are unexpected power failures or the incorrect handling of external or network drives, as this can result in the files in the case folder getting damaged to the point where normal handling of the case becomes impossible.
When this has happened to your case, it may still be possible to extract the annotations (tags, flags and comments) from the broken case and import them into a backup copy of the case, so that the results of your work on the case are also restored.
To restore the annotations, create a copy of the backed-up case (ideally the back-up has been made right after indexing), open the copy and select File > Restore Annotations... in the main menu. Next, select the file named "events.log" in the "audits" subfolder of the case that holds the annotations. The annotations from the broken case will then be imported into the current case copy.
It is important to consider the following:
- The original case must be indexed with Intella version 1.6.3 or later.
- Annotations can be restored only from a copy of the same base case and only if both case copies have not been re-indexed.
- Any annotations that exist in the importing case will be removed before importing. The copy of the current "events.log" file is stored in the audits folder as events.log.old. You can use this copy to restore the state in case this removal was not intended.
In summary, running frequent backups of your Intella cases is essential for business continuity and data integrity. Backups safeguard your work product and allow for recovery in the event of data loss or corruption. With a good backup plan in place, you can have confidence in the availability and integrity of your electronic discovery data and work product.
Support
Our support team will make every effort to assist you in recovering from a corrupt case. However, the level of support we can provide depends on whether a backup of the case exists. With a recent case backup, we may be able to assist you to restore the backup copy and import your work product and annotations into the restored case. This allows you to recover much if not all of the work done on the case prior to corruption. Without a backup, our options are limited, and we cannot guarantee recovery of a corrupt case. We highly recommend following recommended backup procedures to safeguard your work in the event of unforeseen issues like case corruption.