This guide answers questions about Network-Attached Storage, explaining how to acquire and interpret evidence from these devices for UK litigation.
Guide · 16 pages · 22 min read · Published 2026-08-30
Network-Attached Storage, commonly known as NAS, functions as a small server, often holding critical business and personal data. These appliances are frequently overlooked in discovery, yet they can contain a wealth of evidence, including user accounts, access logs, system snapshots, and recoverable deleted files. Understanding the unique characteristics of NAS devices, such as their RAID configurations and shared access mechanisms, is crucial for effective evidence identification and preservation in UK legal contexts. The guide treats the appliance as a small server with big habits.
This guide sets out to demystify NAS evidence for UK lawyers, investigators, and in-house counsel. It covers the fundamental principles of RAID, explaining why the physical disks are not the data itself, and explores various acquisition options, including live, disks-out, or hybrid methods. The guide details what a NAS appliance records, such as accounts, logs, snapshots, and recycle folders, and considers the wider source architecture where related evidence may reside, including cloud backups and counterpart devices. It also addresses the complex issue of attribution on a shared box.
Practitioners can use this guide to identify potential sources of evidence, understand common mistakes and technical limitations, and formulate pertinent questions for clients, opponents, and forensic providers. It offers suggested wording for client holding instructions and provides a checklist of red flags indicating when a digital forensic expert should be involved. The guide includes worked examples illustrating scenarios like unexpected recycle bins or data recovery from an ecosystem where the box is gone, helping to navigate the complexities of NAS evidence.
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16 pages · 22 min read
Network-Attached Storage, or NAS, devices are common in offices and homes, holding vast amounts of data.
Published by Computer Forensics Lab on 2026-08-30. Original material of the practice, free to read, cite and download. See every guide's author and source.
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N AS EVIDENCE · A GUIDE FOR UK LAWYERS NAS Evidence: The Office Box That Holds Everything RAID, Snapshots, Shared Access, Logs and Deleted Data on Network- Attached Storage COMPUTER FORENSICS LAB
§ ABOUT THE AUTHOR PREPARED BY COMPUTER FORENSICS LAB E-DISCOVERY TEAM FULL CHAIN-OF-CUSTODY DOCUMENTATION
§ CONTENTS In this guide 01 Executive summary 02 The problem in plain English: the box nobody documented 03 RAID in plain English: why the disks are not the data 04 Acquisition options: live, disks-out, or hybrid 05 What the appliance records: accounts, logs, snapshots, recycle folders 06 Source architecture: where else the evidence lives 07 Attribution on a shared box 08 Worked examples 09 Common mistakes and technical limitations 10 Questions to ask · Suggested wording 11 Checklist and red flags · When to involve a digital forensic expert 12 Frequently asked questions 13 Glossary · References · Disclaimer · How a specialist laboratory can assist
§ 01 · ORIENTATION Executive summary THE HEADLINE POINT: TREATTHEAPPLIANCEASASMALLSERVERWITHBIGHABITS
§ 02 · FIRST PRINCIPLES The problem in plain English: the box nobody documented
§ 03 · THEARRAY RAID in plain English: why the disks are not the data
§ 04 · GETTINGITOUT Acquisition options: live, disks-out, or hybrid
§ 05 · WHATTHEBOXREMEMBERS What the appliance records: accounts, logs, snapshots, recycle folders
§ 06 · THEWIDERMAP Source architecture: where else the evidence lives EVIDENCE NAS UNIT RELAY / REPLICA LOGS CLOUD US B / BACKUP BACKUP COUNTERPART DELETED / DEVICES RECOVERABLE
§ 07 · WHOSE H AND Attribution on a shared box
§ 08 · IN THE WILD Worked examples EXAMPLE1 · THERECYCLEBINNOBODYKNEWEXISTED EXAMPLE2 · THE DISK S IN THE WRONG ORDER EXAMPLE3 · THEBOXWASGONE; THEECOSYSTEMWASNOT
§ 09 · WHEREITGOESWRONG Common mistakes and technical limitations Common mistakes Technical limitations
§ 10 · INTERROGATORIES & DRAFTING AIDS Questions to ask · Suggested wording Ask your client Ask your opponent Ask your e Discovery / forensic provider SUGGESTED WORDING · CLIENT HOLD IN G INSTRUCTION ( SENDTO DAY )
§ 11 · QUICK CONTROL Checklist and red flags · When to involve a digital forensic expert The NAS evidence checklist Red flags When to involve a digital forensic expert 35 report that reads the appliance's own records properly (Example 1), or the review that prices an opponent's
§ 12 · COMMON QUESTIONS Frequently asked questions One of the disks has failed. Is the data gone? The NAS is password-protected and the person who set it up has left. Now what? Files were deleted from the NAS months ago. Recoverable? Can we prove who deleted them? The unit also records our CCTV. Anything special to do? Is a home NAS different from an office one?
§ 13 · REFERENCE Glossary Sources and authoritative references DISCLAIMER
§ HOW A SPECIALIST LABORATORY CAN ASSIST Working with Computer Forensics Lab Speak to a forensic examiner, not a salesperson. INSTRUCTTHELAB NEWENQUIRIESEMAILE - DISCOVERY
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