CrashPlan Legal Hold

CrashPlan Legal Hold is a preservation and collection tool for eDiscovery matters, best suited to organizations that use CrashPlan for Endpoint. Its policy controls and audit trail support ongoing preservation, but collection prerequisites and deletion on release make careful matter management essential.

Overview

A matter applies one preservation policy to a group of users, setting which files to preserve and how long to keep them. CrashPlan continuously collects regular updates to files on custodians’ devices, while logging data access and policy changes. It also preserves timestamps, permissions, and directory paths, retaining context that can matter in discovery.

Custodians are not notified of a hold, and the legal hold backup set does not appear in the CrashPlan app. That keeps the hold out of the custodian-facing app, but offers no custodian acknowledgment. Custodians also remain active users and consume a subscription for as long as their matter is open.

Key features

Preservation and collection

Policy-based matters and ongoing updates suit legal teams that need to preserve changing endpoint files across groups of custodians. Collection, however, depends on an active hold and a target device with the CrashPlan app installed and active. Teams should account for endpoint access when planning collection, rather than assuming preserved data can always be retrieved directly from a console.

There is a further constraint for archives protected with an Archive key password or Custom key: files cannot be collected through the console for those custodians, even though their data remains preserved. This separation between preservation and collection can complicate retrieval plans.

Audit and integration

Access and policy changes are logged and auditable, and an open API with integration documentation lets teams access preserved data from an existing eDiscovery platform. That makes CrashPlan a stronger fit for organizations with an established eDiscovery workflow than for teams seeking a self-contained matter-management environment.

Releasing a custodian or closing a matter starts permanent deletion of the data preserved by that hold. Treat closure as a consequential retention step and plan any needed collection before release.

Pricing

CrashPlan Enterprise uses custom volume pricing billed per user; contact sales for a quote. Legal Hold is available on Enterprise plans for organizations with 250+ employees or when legal hold is needed. There is no free plan. Because custodians continue consuming user subscriptions while their matters remain open, ongoing holds carry continuing user-license use.

Platforms

CrashPlan lists API, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows platforms. The CrashPlan app supports Windows, macOS, and Linux; collection requires that app to be installed and active on the target device.

Who it's for

This is a sensible choice for organizations already using CrashPlan for Endpoint that need policy-based preservation, continuing file updates, auditable access, and API integration with an existing eDiscovery platform. It is a weaker fit when custodians must acknowledge holds, when console collection must work for every archive key type, or when release must not trigger deletion.

Pros and cons

Pros: Regular updates, policy-based preservation, and preserved file metadata support ongoing discovery workflows.

Pros: Auditable access and policy changes plus an open API support governance and integration.

Cons: Collection requires an active hold and an active CrashPlan app on the target device; some archive key configurations block console collection.

Cons: Releasing a custodian or closing a matter begins permanent deletion, while custodians continue to consume subscriptions during open matters.

Cons: Holds are not acknowledged by custodians, and there is no free plan.

Alternatives

Legal Hold Software is a useful starting point for comparing legal hold products. Consider Vidhaana Legal Hold Management if mobile access, a free trial, or a team plan without per-user fees is more important; its AI Power Plan is ₹999 a month, billed ₹999 per month, with full access for one team and unlimited document reviews. Exterro eDiscovery is a web-based paid alternative with pricing available through a demo request.

Knovos Manage offers web and self-hosted deployment with standard licensing or usage-based pricing. Litera CAM Litigation Hold is a web add-on for iManage and NetDocuments, available with CAM C3 and above licenses. Logikcull has a web-based pay-as-you-go option billed per GB each month, with a 10 GB minimum, unlimited users, projects, and downloads; it also offers a free trial.

OnitX CLM is a paid API and web option. Venio eDiscovery supports API, self-hosted, web, and Windows deployment, with pricing offered per instance, case, or enterprise. Relativity Legal Hold is licensed separately from the data volume commitment.

Verdict

Choose CrashPlan Legal Hold if your organization already uses CrashPlan for Endpoint and needs policy-driven preservation, auditability, and API access for eDiscovery. Look elsewhere if you need custodian acknowledgment, dependable console collection across archive key configurations, or retention that does not begin permanent deletion when a matter closes.