Electronic discovery is the retrieval of useful documents from different electronic sources. With the increasing use of electronic devices for creating, storing and transferring data, the retrieval of useful and valuable information has become a challenge. Every second, thousands of documents are being transferred electronically across the world. This may result in the data being lost or altered. Electronic discovery enables the retrieval of even lost or changed data.

Electronic discovery software enables the effective retrieval of data. Data can be recovered from any kind of source, including computers, backup media such as CD/DVD ROMs, floppy disks, tapes, hard disks etc., CAD/CAM/CAE and graphics, software and source code, internet and intranet content, Jaz drives, Zip drives, internet service providers, fax servers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), network activity systems, cell phones, pagers, electronic/voice/video mail and special databases such as CRM and ERP. Electronic discovery software tools can categorize, search and sort for data in their native format. Reports can be generated within minutes and documents can be redacted. Most software tools are compatible with RTF, HTML, MIME and TXT file formats. The data can also be categorized by type or converted into specified formats such as TIFF, JPEG or PDF.

Some of the top providers of electronic discovery software and services are: Daticon, Electronic Evidence Discovery Inc., Kroll Ontrack Inc., Renew Data Corp, ZANTAZ Inc, Applied Discovery Inc., Fios Inc., Ibis Consulting, KPMG and SPI Litigation Direct. Some of the top software programs are: Concordance (Dataflight Software Inc. ), Summation (Summation Legal Technologies Inc.), CaseMap (Bowne DecisionQuest (CaseSoft)), Access (Microsoft Corp.), Attenex (Attenex Corp.), Encase (Guidance Software Inc.), iConect (iConect Development), Introspect (ZANTAZ Inc.) and LiveNote (LiveNote Technologies). There are some free demo versions of the software available. However, these are only for limited time or limited applications. A full fledged software package has to be purchased for professional applications. Prices start at $1,000 and depend on the options available.