A system and method for conducting forensic investigations by investigators on an investigations field using a mobile device. A digital search warrant is downloaded to the mobile device prior to conducting the forensic investigation. The digital search warrant defines the search parameters of the search to be conducted, including key terms, file types, and the like. The mobile device is coupled to a target device in the investigations field that is the subject of the forensic investigation. The mobile device parses the digital search warrant and automatically identifies and collects data from the target device based on the parsed digital search warrant. The automatically identifying and collecting of the data is done without modifying a state of the target device to retain forensic integrity during the investigation process.