Data module A data module was a storage medium used by Skagaran s during the late 19th century and by Starfleet in the 22nd century . Specifications . Skagaran data modules contained data chip s that looked extremely similar to crystal s . Multiple data modules were on a Skagaran starship which , in the 19th century , crashed on a Skagaran colony planet . ( ) Starfleet data modules consisted of several memory chips encased in a transparent coating and were similar to microtape s used in the 23rd century . Most of the control consoles aboard starship s had slots for several data modules . History . On board the NX - class in 2151 , Ensign Hoshi Sato used a data module to digitally store a private message that the Vulcan cruiser " Ti ' Mur " had covertly sent to the quarters of " Enterprise " s first officer , Sub - Commander T ' Pol . After decrypting the message , Sato gave the data module containing it to Commander Charles " Trip " Tucker , explaining that the message was in Vulcan and that he would therefore have to process it through the ship ' s translation matrix to be able to understand it . Tucker then plugged the data module into a slot on his desk in engineering , proceeding to do exactly as Sato had suggested . ( ) Later that year , Ensign Sato delivered a data module , containing a letter , to Doctor Phlox in the sickbay on board " Enterprise " . Although Sato initially suspected the letter might be from a female , Phlox explained to her it was actually from Dr . Jeremy Lucas , the first Human to ever serve on Denobula . ( ) Aboard " Enterprise " in circa 2152 , Commander Tucker showed Captain Jonathan Archer a data module that contained a complete recording of a water polo final between Stanford University and the University of Texas . Tucker had received the recording by subspace before storing it on the data module . He and Archer later used the storage device to watch the game on a monitor in the captain ' s mess . ( ) By 2153 , several of the data modules in the wreckage of the crashed Skagaran ship were damaged . In that year , however , Tucker and T ' Pol managed to access at least one of the craft ' s data modules and retrieve some data chips from it . While they were trying to interpret information from the data chips , Captain Archer asked them if they were having any luck with the data modules . The " Enterprise " crewmembers were indeed able to access log s from the data modules , which Ensign Sato then worked on translating . ( ) In 2154 , Captain Erika Hernandez , commanding officer of " Columbia " , gave Captain Archer a data module containing Hernandez ' s senior officer candidates , as she wanted Archer to give her his opinion of them . ( ) A computer module that Vulcan Ambassador Soval once referred to as a " Starfleet data module " showed its user gaps in satellite surveillance , when beam - ins to the planet ' s surface couldn ' t be detected by the Vulcans . The precise moment when Soval called it a " Starfleet data module " was immediately after he gave it to Commander Tucker , when Soval feigned ignorance of the device ' s significance , as its transfer from him to the Starfleet officers wasn ' t officially permitted . ( ) In 2155 , while Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was attempting to help ensure an away team from " Enterprise " managed to travel from the ship to the surface of Mars without being detected by John Frederick Paxton ( who had hacked into the planetary sensor grid ) , a data module was given to Reed by Section 31 operative , who Reed consulted and met with , one night in a San Francisco alley . Reed plugged the device into the back of a PADD he had with him ; the data module showed him that , if the away team kept their altitude less than ten meters above the surface of Mars , they wouldn ' t be noticed by Paxton . ( ) Appendices . Background information . In the case of the Starfleet data modules , their name was not established on screen but comes from the final draft script of " Vox Sola " . The scripts of " Breaking the Ice " and " Dear Doctor " consistently used the term " data cube " , however ( using " cube " for short ) . In fact , both scripts described this kind of device in each of those episodes as " small " , implying that there was at least a significantly larger version of this storage medium . A text commentary track about " Vox Sola " , written by Michael and Denise Okuda , termed this type of device a " data card " . According to the commentary , the clear part of a data module is the same size as the " microtape " props used in . A Vulcan data module was to have been shown in , as evidenced by that episode ' s final draft script , though it isn ' t in the installment . The data module would have stored vital evidence that Vulcan ambassador V ' Lar had gathered regarding corrupt Mazarites , proof she needed in order to testify against them . She said about the data module , " " It contains all my notes , my testimony . . . months of work . " " The module was handed from V ' Lar to Archer with instructions , if she was killed by the Mazarites , to deliver the unit to the Vulcan High Command . The final draft script of commented that , upon leaving her science station while Commander Tucker was noisily tweaking the command chair , T ' Pol extracted " a few data modules from their slots on her console . " In the final edit of the episode , though , it is difficult to see whether she does this . The data module in " Home " was scripted ( in the post - production , archival version of the final draft ) to be a " data disc " instead . This was evidently changed , with a data module appearing on - screen . Similarly , the final draft script of " Terra Prime " ( again , a post - production version ) called for a " data chip " to be used , even though the final version of that device was clearly an identical prop to that used in " Dear Doctor " , " Vox Sola " , and " Home " .