As an attorney, you're fluent in legalese, but many of the folks you work with during e-discovery seem to only speak "IT."  This third entry in the EDD Dictionary is set up just like the first (here); each common, EDD-related word is followed by its definition, the "attorney equivalent," and an example sentence.  This entry focuses on IT-related acronyms that you may hear used often during an e-discovery or computer forensics case.

RAM

-noun: Acronym that stands for Random Access Memory.  This is a dynamic type of data storage that requires power to maintain the data it stores (which means that, unlike a hard drive, once the computer is powered off, the information in RAM is effectively "erased" shortly thereafter).  This type of storage allows data stored in RAM to be accessed in any order (unlike CDs and hard drives, on which data is stored on a specific physical location), and this increases data access speeds.  Think of RAM as a desk that you can have papers lying on during the day but that are cleared off when you leave at night (as compared to a hard drive, which is more like a filing cabinet that remains untouched whether the lights are on or off in your office).  Leaving papers on your "desk" means you can shuffle them around and access them really quickly, but unless you file them, they're gone when you shut the lights, just as RAM is gone when you shut off a computer.

Attorney Equivalent: memory, computer memory.

Example:

1. I need to add some more RAM to my home computer so I can run more than one program simultaneously without it freezing up.

2. We found a few items in memory before the computer was shut down that help prove that a virus was erasing files.

CD-ROM

-noun: Acronym that stands for Compact Disk-Read Only Memory.  A thin disc made of plastic and a layer of aluminum.  CD-ROMs are a form of optical disk storage (which means that data is written to the disc in a way that's visible; a laser burns tiny peaks and valleys into the surface of the disk).  Anything from documents to audio and video files can be stored on these disks.  CDs can normally hold around 700 megabytes of data.

Attorney Equivalent: compact disks, CDs, disks.

Example:

1. Can you pass me that CD-ROM? It has some important spreadsheets on it that I need to review.

DVD-ROM

-noun: Acronym that stands for Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk Read Only Memory.  These disks are similar in appearance to CD-ROMs, except that DVDs can hold about six times as much data: roughly 4.7 gigabytes.

Attorney Equivalent: DVDs, disks.

Example:

1. I made you a DVD with all of our vacation photos on it.

FAT

-noun: Acronym that stands for File Allocation Table.  Today FAT is a file system that is commonly used by thumb drives and external hard drives, the most common type being FAT32.  FAT was also used as the file system for many versions of Windows until it was replaced by NTFS.  The name "FAT" refers to a centralized table that contains information for all of the files stored in the system, such as file size and physical location (similar to how a written directory posted on a very large filing cabinet would give you details on where to find files and info on the files themselves.)  If a thumb drive is FAT instead of the newer NTFS, very large files (4 gigabytes and up) cannot be stored and you will receive errors when trying to save or copy files.  Even some new thumb and external drives come formatted with the FAT file system by default; they can be reformatted, however, if you plan on storing large files.

Attorney Equivalent:  a file system.

Example:

1. Is this thumb drive formatted FAT16 or FAT32?