Legacy data sits in systems no longer in active use, including retired databases, discontinued applications, and formats requiring obsolete software. Retrieval may require reconstructing the original environment or engaging specialists.
It commonly qualifies as not reasonably accessible.
Alternative Names:
Legacy Data, Obsolete System Data
Why it Matters?
Legacy data is the recurring problem in long-tail litigation, where the events at issue occurred on systems replaced years earlier. Organizations frequently discover during discovery that migration retained current records while discarding historical detail, which is a preservation problem if it occurred after the trigger date and an accessibility argument if it occurred before. Establishing when the migration happened is the threshold inquiry.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Why does legacy data matter in long-tail cases?
Is migration loss sanctionable?
