TechnoLawyer: Backup/Media/Storage

Coming January 18, 2008 to Fat Friday: Edward Zohn compares Microsoft Exchange to plain old IMAP for email, Paul Stanley reviews switching to a BlackBerry and using BlackBerry Enterprise Server with Amicus Attorney, Charles Stokes explains why Word 2007 resembles WordPerfect, David Caracappa shares his experiences with network-attached storage systems over the years, and Steven Schwaber provides a workaround for slow remote access speed. Don't miss this issue.

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Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a suite of PDF tools for law firms (see article below), a gadget that enables you to securely use the Internet on any computer, and eDiscovery software designed to expedite the document review process. Don't miss the next issue.

PDF: The Next Generation
By Taeho Lim

When law firms first discovered the PDF format years ago, they quickly embraced it thanks to its ability to preserve any document regardless of its native format. However, the PDF-related needs of law firms have grown. The ability to create PDF files is now just the baseline.

To meet these needs, DocsCorp has released pdfDocs Desktop 2.1. This new version of its popular PDF software contains a number of legal-specific features. In addition, pdfDocs Desktop 2.1 features improved integration with popular document management systems not to mention DocsCorp's own products.

The centerpiece of the new version is the Binder feature, which enables you to automatically "bind" together a collection of documents into one file, and create a table of contents, bookmarks, links, etc. with just a few clicks. You can keep the documents in a Binder in their native format or convert them into PDF format.

Perfect for closing books, deal books, eBriefs, etc., you can apply page numbering, time/date stamps, and information from your document management system. Using the new Numbering Sets feature, you can set up and automatically apply this information to any Binder. You can establish Numbering Sets across your firm.

Also on the automation front, pdfDocs Desktop 2.1 has a Bates stamp feature for discovery and other documents that require tracking. You can apply prefixes and suffixes, and you can use Bates stamps with the Numbering Sets feature described above.

Among the other notable features, you can automatically convert email attachments into PDF format to safeguard documents, redact, watermark, annotate, and repaginate PDF files, and create secure PDF files.

In terms of integration, pdfDocs Desktop 2.1 integrates with Hummingbird DM, Interwoven WorkSite, Open Text, TRIM Context, and Worldox out of the box. You can right-click on a document within your document management system to create a PDF version of that file. In other words, no need to check it out and check it in again. Your document management system will still provide an audit trail showing the PDF creation. You can also add documents directly to a Binder in this fashion.

pdfDocs Desktop 2.1 also integrates with DocsCorp's other products, including pdfDocs OCR Server (converts imaged text into editable and searchable text), pdfDocs formFiller (a soup-to-nuts PDF forms solution), and pdfDocs compareDocs (document comparison for any file type). Learn more about pdfDocs Desktop 2.1.

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Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a multifunction network appliance for small law firms (see article below), mind mapping software that integrates with Microsoft Office, and backup software that can backup anything to anything. Don't miss the next issue.

Internet in a Black Box
By Taeho Lim

In Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," a black monolith taught the apes everything they needed to made the jump to humanity. That black monolith was the first network appliance.

Plustek's MultiServer MFA 1000S looks a lot like one of those monoliths — a black tower that sits between your network and the Internet, and provides your firm with today's essential services, including a router, email server, Web server, anti-virus and anti-spam protection, firewall, FTP, QoS, VoIP telephone service, SMS messaging, file server, and DNS.

MultiServer MFA 1000S runs on Linux, the popular open source operating system mostly used on servers. For email, MultiServer MFA 1000S supports IMAP and provides SSL encryption so that you can send and receive email securely even when using a mobile device. You can access email using clients like Outlook or via your Web browser. It can even handle multiple domains.

In addition to scanning email for viruses and spam, MultiServer MFA 1000S can also archive email and monitor it for certain keywords or domain names. Storage is unlimited as you can add additional hard drives as necessary.

MultiServer MFA 1000S features a system recovery feature, enabling you to roll back to any point in time. Thus, you can easily retrieve a mistakenly deleted message or undo any incorrect settings. You can manage MultiServer MFA 1000S via your Web browser, including downloading and applying updates. MultiServer MFA 1000S supports Chinese, German, French, and Japanese in addition to English. MultiServer MFA 1000S carries a street price of approximately $975. Learn more about MultiServer MFA 1000S.

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Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming December 7, 2007 to Fat Friday: Harold Goldner explains how his solo practice survived a hard drive failure, Steven Schwaber reviews ActiveWords (and our publisher ponders the speed of keyboard commands versus mousing), Jonathan Cope responds to a recent post that criticized CLE seminars, Deborah Schneider reviews her experience with Dell versus other PC makers, and Ed Schoenecker discusses what's missing from Office 2007. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming November 30, 2007 to Fat Friday: Ted Brooks explains how to manage your trial exhibits with TrialDirector, Wandal Winn explains how he digitized 3,000 family slides, Time Matters CIC Thomas Caffrey discusses why he won't join the Time Matters-Clarion discussion, Thomas RuBane offers a clever way to create strong passwords for free, and James Keuning reviews Best Skins Ever's iPhone skin. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Earlier this year, we covered Drobo in TechnoLawyer NewsWire. It certainly ranks as one of the hottest products we've covered in terms of interest level. I nearly bought two myself, but ultimately decided against doing so because of two issues that have surfaced in user forums — fan noise and data loss.

I wanted one for my growing media collection at home and another one attached to our file server for network backup at the office. The fan was a deal killer in terms of using it at home. But the data loss horror stories I read led me to hold off purchasing one for the office as well.

When I buy hard drives I typically buy two and mirror them. I like Drobo on paper because it's a single device that holds and manages up to four hard drives. If you fill it with four or even just two drives and one fails you're totally covered. However, as I've since learned from intrepid early adopters, if Drobo itself fails, you might be totally screwed. I think it depends what Drobo is doing with your data when it fails. Some people have experienced no data loss whereas others have lost everything.

So I think I'll wait for version 2. (Having never used a Drobo, the above is not a review. I'm simply reporting on what I've read in user forums.)

While no other company has released anything as slick and user-friendly as Drobo, Hitachi recently got my attention with its new 1 TB (1,000 GB) hard drive. Even better, Hitachi has placed this drive into a fanless external USB 2 enclosure. It's currently on sale at Best Buy for $307, which seems like a good price given that no other company has a 1 TB hard drive yet (though other companies sell this Hitachi drive in their own enclosure).

Two of these hard drives mirrored should work for my media collection at home, but what about on-site network backups at the office? Which storage hardware does your office use? Do you use Drobo?

About TechnoEditorials
A TechnoEditorial is the vehicle through which we opine and provide tips of interest to managing partners, law firm administrators, and others in the legal profession. TechnoEditorials appear first in TechnoGuide, and later here in TechnoLawyer Blog. TechnoGuide, which is free, also contains exclusive content. You can subscribe here.

Today's issue of TechnoLawyer NewsWire covers a secure online storage service (see below), software that can digitize your paper forms and send the data into your legacy applications, and a practice management program for Mac users. Don't miss the next issue.

Three Steps to a Paperless Office
By Taeho Lim

You can never be too thin. That's a lie. Just ask Esther Canadas. You can never be too rich. That's also a lie if you don't want fame along with your fortune. You can never have enough storage or too little paper. Bingo!

File123's eponymous online service promises the most elusive of all technology promises — the paperless law office. As its name implies, File123 boils the storage process down to three steps: transfer digital files from your computer via upload or email, scan, or fax your paper documents, and then organize and back up your vault contents.

The functionality of File123 revolves around its searchable, sortable, sendable, and secure online file repository. To search for the file you need, enter a keyword and File123 looks for that term(s) and lists the relevant files. Add more files via fax, scan, email, or Web browser, or just drop them into File123's network drive application. When you need to share files, choose what you want to send and either email your recipients an attachment or a link that leads to a secure download page on the Web.

File123 also features a "Dashboard" from which you can add files, review recent account activity, and manage your folders. You add, delete, and reorganize folders just as you would on your Mac or PC — just drag and drop files and folders. Finally, File123 features 256-bit browser security to ensure that no one but you can access your storage vault.

A File123 account gives you 1 GB of free storage. Upgrading to a 10 GB account costs $4.95/month. Other plans exist for those who need even more storage since, after all, you can never get enough. No word on an unlimited plan though. Learn more about File123.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Wednesdays, TechnoLawyer NewsWire is a weekly newsletter that enables you to learn about new technology products and services of interest to legal professionals. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

Coming October 12, 2007 to Fat Friday: Wells Anderson provides a detailed disaster plan for the home and office, Lynn York reviews the Oce im7230 multifunction printer, Craig Humphrey discusses running Windows on a Mac (and we respond), Todd Richardson adds a tenth step to David Canton's instant classic Think Before Sending Nastygrams, and Jenny Jolinski shares her concerns about voicemail delivered by email. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.

BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is a free eBook in PDF format. Actually, it's two eBooks in one.

BlawgWorld enables you to explore and discover legal blogs (blawgs) without spinning your wheels. It features the best essays of the year from 77 of the most influential blawgs.

TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide uses a question/answer format to help you find solutions to problems commonly encountered by law firms. It contains 185 solutions organized into 58 topics.

Thanks to the eBook's inspired design, you're never more than three clicks away from what you want to read. BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide has received glowing reviews from many publications. For example, LLRX writes:

"The substance of both books is exceptional, while the eBook format is innovative and inviting.... [The eBook] was designed to open in just about any PDF viewer and it worked very well in my various tests.... The best part of the entire eBook is that it is free."

Download Your Free Copy Now
BlawgWorld 2007-08 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is truly free — no registration hassles.

So please download your copy now (PDF file).

And then enter our sweepstakes.

Coming September 14, 2007 to Fat Friday: Stephen Seldin continues the Word v. WordPerfect debate comparing cost, metadata issues, formatting, and more, Michelle Niemeyer takes on law firm age discrimination, Greg Goodrich explains why he (probably) won't switch from his Treo 650 to an iPhone (and our publisher updates his iPhone review), Diane Hopkins describes her "Backups3" method and how it can save your firm from disaster, and Sanjay Singh explains why lawyers need to worry about more than just size limitations when it comes to Rules in Outlook. Don't miss this issue.

How to Receive this Newsletter
Published on Fridays, Fat Friday is a weekly newsletter that features a grab bag full of genuinely useful product reviews and tips on a wide variety of topics. Like all of our newsletters, it's free. Please subscribe now.