From hard drive to searchable data
How laptops, hard drives and email archives become data you can search quickly, without the original ever being changed.
Sinabis Analytics, , 3 min read
A retired laptop from accounting, two external hard drives, an Outlook archive spanning several years and a stack of scanned contracts: that is often what it looks like when a company wants to know what is in its data. For an audit, an internal review, or simply because nobody has the overview any more. Somewhere in there is the one email, the one contract, the one payment that matters.
That is exactly what our pipeline is for. It turns whole storage devices into data you can search at your own pace. Here we show what happens step by step and the three ways your data can reach us.
Initial consultation & needs assessment
Simply get in touch with us through our contact form or by phone. In a first, no-obligation conversation we clarify the key facts: how much data is involved, which formats are there, and which specific use case matters most to you? Together we then put together the package that fits your requirements.
What the pipeline does with your data
Then the real work begins. Every file is checked and ends up where it belongs:
- Duplicates out. The same email in five mailboxes only needs reading once. System files are set aside along the way.
- Images become readable. Scanned contracts and photographed receipts go through text recognition (OCR).
- Speech becomes text. Audio files are transcribed and so become searchable.
- Mailboxes are unpacked. Emails are extracted from archives and mailboxes.
In the end, images, chats, documents and audio sit structured in one place. The metadata is preserved, and the index makes everything quick to search.
For the analysis that follows, we provide specialised analysis software (eDiscovery) such as Sinabis Inspector: with it you search even huge, heterogeneous datasets in seconds.
Whether email archives, forensic disk images or scanned documents – through an intuitive web interface you run targeted full-text searches, filter by time period or correspondent, and tag relevant hits right away. That way you isolate exactly the documents, contracts or emails that matter for your audit in no time, and export the results in a few clicks.
Of course, we can also provide the processed data in the format of your choice. That way you keep full flexibility and can move the data seamlessly into your own systems and process it further as you see fit.
Two models for your data processing
Option 1: Full service: we take care of everything
You hand your storage devices over to us, and we take care of the entire process in-house. For you that means: no internal resource effort, complete traceability and reliable results.
For the analysis that follows, we provide a hardened analysis notebook – either with Sinabis Inspector for fully self-contained offline use, or preconfigured with a dedicated VPN to our infrastructure in Frankfurt am Main.
The security of your data has top priority: the device is secured on several levels. The data is protected by full-disk encryption (LUKS) at hardware level and requires three-stage authentication – from the boot level through the user account to application-specific software access. Unauthorised access is therefore technically ruled out.
Option 2: Self-service: your own control in the Sinacluster
Prefer to keep the process steps in your own hands? Then access our Sinacluster directly via a secured VPN. Upload your raw data yourself. Whether as a ZIP archive, Outlook PST or forensic AD1 container, you create your own projects and start the automated pipeline whenever you need it.
Processing takes place on our own nodes in an ISO/IEC 27001 certified data center in Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. Your data is encrypted to state-of-the-art standards both in transit and at rest on the storage systems. System access is secured by at least three-factor authentication (3FA) and dedicated hardware.
Which option suits you?
That depends on your schedule, internal compliance requirements and the amount of data. Talk to us, and together we will find the ideal operating model for your project.
Available Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 (CET).