You might overlook sources of ESI. Mobile workers' laptops, out-of-use applications or zip drives, or undisclosed backups created by project managers with a deep mistrust of hard drive reliability are all possibilities. Your opponent can request any or all of these data stores. You can also request data in these stores. So when putting together your discovery requests keep all these sources in mind.
Determining where data is physically stored on Earth involves understanding the infrastructure of data centers and the legal frameworks governing them. As of 2026, data location is increasingly managed through sophisticated automated tools and strict "sovereignty" regulations.
1. Physical Infrastructure
Most digital data is stored in one of three primary locations:
Data Centers: Massive physical facilities housing thousands of servers. In 2026, there is an increase in AI-focused data centers specifically designed with high-density cooling and power to handle GPU clusters.
Local Storage: Physical devices you own, such as hard drives, SSDs, or SD cards.
Edge Computing & Devices: Modern assets like Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) can produce and store 1–2 terabytes of raw data daily on local flash storage.
2. Digital Forensic & Discovery Tools
To identify where a specific piece of data resides, professionals use:
Data Catalogs: Platforms like Atlan or Collibra provide a centralized inventory and "lineage" of data assets, tagging them with their physical residency.
IP Geolocation: Using the IP address of a server to find its approximate physical location via databases like MaxMind.
Provider Transparency: Major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) allow users to select specific "Regions" (e.g., US-East, Europe-West) for storage.
3. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks
Laws often dictate—and thus help you determine—where data must be stored:
Data Residency: Refers specifically to the physical location of storage (e.g., servers in Germany are subject to German and EU laws).
Data Localization: Certain countries, like China and Russia, have stringent laws requiring that personal data of their citizens remain on servers within their borders.
New 2026 Regulations: Updated laws in states like Oregon ban the sale of precise geolocation data (defined within a 1,750-foot radius), requiring businesses to have stricter governance over how this data is stored and tracked.
4. Specialized Geospatial Data
For Earth science or geographic data itself, location is determined using:
Coordinate Systems: Points are identified using latitude and longitude on a global grid.
2026 Datum Shift: Users should be aware that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is updating the mathematical model (datum) used for GPS in 2026 to improve accuracy.
Earthdata Search: Tools like NASA Earthdata allow users to discover and visualize over 50,000 Earth observation collections by specific geographic area.