Virtual machines can be an e-Discovery nightmare

As the use of virtual machines steadily increases, it creates a very real e-Discovery issue. When a company receives an order to locate information in an e-Discovery process, it's easy to forget about information trapped on old virtual machines; regardless, you are still liable for handing over the virtual data if it exists somewhere in your computing systems. Webopedia defines a virtual machine as "A self-contained operating environment that behaves as if it is a separate computer." You could us a VM, for instance, to run Linux on a Windows PC without actually installing it on a physical PC. It's a bit confusing, but these virtual machines are essentially the same as actual ones, and you can even designate hard drive and memory to them.

It becomes a problem when you generate data on the VM because, in they eyes of the e-Discovery process, data is data wherever it exists on a physical hard drive (even when that hard drive space is on a virtual PC). Kazeon has developed a product to help you with this problem. It's Information Server product searches across a variety of data stores, including virtual machines created with VMware, to help you find data wherever it may be. E-Discovery is painful enough, but if you forget about data stored on virtual machines, you may be putting your company at even greater risk.

For more information:
- check out this EnterpriseStorageForum.com article

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