know how to work out what's inside of these things and this lab is one of those places. boxes from other investigations, torn apart, burned, damaged if many ways suggest a tough assignment. here they say the story of what happened is usually found. >> a lot of our work is with undamaged recorders and easy to download them with a memory stick. >> even with damaged one your recovery is good. >> we have always been able to retrieve the data from the ones we have received. >> reporter: the job requires a lot of patience. >> we obtain a raw data file. >> just ones and zeros. >> contains just ones and zeros. >> reporter: the boxes contain a wealth of information, up to 2,000 separate pieces from the data recorder alone. high-tech nothing built in to a fireproof, fireproof, shock proof shell. the analysis can be this, an