There are currently 37 Season One, 17 Episode and 3 bonus data recorders in Bay Area scattered through the game world, as well as 21 (3 each) data recorders to find on 7 co-op missions. Finding all the data recorders in an non-co-op area or Episode grants you a pursuit worth 5 EGO points. Season One data recorders are also required to finish an area pursuit for 40 EGO points and unique title and clothing for your character. As far as co-op mission goes, they are required to finish the pursuit worth 15 EGO points as well as a title and clothing as well. Bonus recorders don't grant you any reward, and dummy recorders are just needed to complete the missions.

Other than giving you benefits, they also add some depth to the game lore - after picking you can play them instantly by pressing the ESC button (on PC) or anytime later by navigating to INTEL section of your EGO menu, to listen a back story related to some kind of past event that happened somewhere in the game world.

This guide will feature a list of all data recorders to be found in the game along with two screenshots - one showing a precise location on the map and second showing the place of the recorder in-game. I'll try to keep the guide updated as I find the recorders. Since it takes time to maintain the guide, some info might take time to appear even after I already got the screenshot of the recorder.

Data recorders are sorted by the order they appear in pursuits. It may appear in different order in Intel window, and finding them in this guide order may not be the fastest way to collect them (due to backtracking). Co-op recorders are sorted by the EGO rating that is required to start them (which is also the ordering the game uses starting from patch 1.020).

Most screenshots were taken before 1.020 update, hence they do not have the names of locations marked on them. I don't know if I'll update them someday or not.

High quality lossless PNG screenshots can be found in my Google Drive folder:
Defiance data recorders[drive.google.com]

An overview map with all data recorders in Bay Area marked

1 — My Name is Ara

2 — Gut Check

3 — The Conspiracy

4 — The Assassination of Toruku

1 — Move to Paradise!

2 — My Lovely Predecessor

3 — Mag-lev Negotiations Continue

4 — Meeting with Jon and Torc

5 — Jon Sworn In… Finally

6 — Case # 44WKE - Teach, Joseph

7 — Madera Mineral Scan

8 — Towers vs. Soleptor

9 — Varus the Robber Baron

10 — Raiders on the Move

1 — We're Home

2 — Not My Best Hour

3 — It's Your World

4 — Hope
This recorder used to be unable to be picked before Server Update: April 5th 2:30pm PT[forums.defiance.com]

5 — Faith

6 — The 99

7 — Subject RR24F - Session 3

8 — Jackleg Is Back

9 — That's All I Got
When picked, this recorder didn't count toward pursuit before Server Update: April 5th 2:30pm PT[forums.defiance.com].
As of April 7th, it still does not count for people who picked it up before, and can not be picked up again.

1 — Meeting With Ms. Ducar

2 — Bovisuida of Sausalito

3 — Petrohol in Sausalito!

4 — The Day After Defiance

5 — Charge Blade to the Gut

6 — Raiders Don't Do Business

7 — New World Thugs
This recorder does not appear and can not be obtained until probably at least the Old Friends, Old Swords mission is in progress.

1 — Amelio Rodriguez

2 — Casti Male - Doe, John

3 — Subject HM38

4 — The Beginning of the End

5 — EMC Occupation

6 — Defiance in the Face of Death

7 — Rumors of Utopia

1 — Senator Gray and the Armistice

2 — Ara Shondu, the High Council Aide

3 — Final Draft

4 — Senator's Gray Resignation

1 — Meeting with Senator Gray

2 — Testing Senator Gray

3 — A Chatterbox is a Treasure

This episode's data recorders behave differently to the other. They are a normal interactive objects, so they require time to interact with. Because of that, they are counted as "picked" only for the person who interacted with them when doing the mission in group, despite the objective is counted for every team member.

They only appear in Intel screen for the person who picked them up, so do not do this Episode Missions together in group if you want to have the recorder in your Intel screen!

1 — Reactivation of Project Piper


2 — Angel Island Induction


3 — Pheromone Rumors


4 — Person of Interest

1 — Subject Douglas Rivers


2 — Quarantine Recommendation


3 — Stage 4 Outbreak

1 — Nolan Contract


2 — Where's Nolan?


3 — Intel for Cofer Gray

These data recorders currently does not give anything else other than additional entry in Intel and some background story of the Defiance world. In parenthesis is the name of the region where they are found, as well as the name of the Intel window section where you can find them to listen later.

1 — They're Not Making Any Vaccine (Mount Tam)

2 — My Flesh and Blood (San Francisco)

3 — Vaccine Delivery (Episode: Plague)

1 — Reporting for Duty

2 — She Hasn't Much Time

3 — Bioman Adreno Test

1 — Late Tonight. Sorry, Honey

2 — Late Again

3 — Please, Don't Tell the Kids

1 — Paradise Invasion

2 — Containment Suit

3 — Soleptor Warehouse

1 — Best. Honeymoon. Ever.

2 — Tom is Incorrigible

3 — Don't Touch Me

1 — Mine 99, Mark 1

2 — Mine 99, Mark 2

3 — Mine 99, Mark 5

1 — Final Stages of Evac

2 — An EMC Past

3 — Secret Alliance

1 — This Might Be the One

2 — Kraag's Proposition

3 — Too Good to Be True

v0.1 (2013-04-06 CET)

• Added PNG screenshots to Google Drive: Mount Tam, Madera, Marin, 6/7 Sausalitio, Liberate the Lost, Explosions 101
  
• Foundation of Steam guide created
  
• Added Mount Tam recorders locations to Steam guide

v0.2 (2013-04-07 CET)

• Added PNG screenshots to Google Drive: Soleptor Excavation, The Motherlode, Island of Lost Soldiers
  
• Added Madera, Marin and 6/7 Sausalitio recorders locations to Steam guide
  
• Replaced PNG images in Steam guide with high quality JPG files to reduce loading time. Google Drive folder will still have (lossless) PNG images
  
• Added the names and EGO levels for the remaining co-op missions
  
• Added version history
  
• Minor tweaks in basic guide informations, Introduction, Credits & Thanks and section names

v0.3 (2013-04-07 CET)

• Added Liberate the Lost, Explosions 101, Soleptor Excavation, The Motherlode and Island of Lost Soldiers recorders locations to Steam guide
  
• Added the names of the all missing recorders, and reserved a spot for screenshots
  
• Shortened the names of co-op sections in the guide a bit, to not be cut-off

v0.4 (2013-04-11 CET)

• Added 7th Sausalitio, Scrapworks Salvage and Commandeer Cronkhite data recorders
  
• Minor corrections and improvements, mainly typos

v1.0 (2013-04-13 CET) — all release version data recorders are there!

• Added San Francisco data recorders
  
• Updated basic guide info accordingly and rephrased few sentences
  
• Added timezone info to Version History

v1.1 (2013-04-18 CET) — all Armistice Festival update data recorders are there!

• Added Episode 1: Armistice, Episode 2: Most Wanted and bonus data recorders
  
• Added TODO section to Version History
  
• Updated Credits and Thanks
  
• Added an note about ordering to introduction, as well as made the link to the PNG versions bold
  
• Modified the guide name

v1.2 (2013-04-30 CET) — there seems to be no new recorders in 3rd episode (see v1.5)

• Removed the numbers from episode pursuits, following the in-game pattern
  
• Minor fixes in the version history

v1.3 (2013-05-03 CET)

• Quick update with EGO level requirements based off 1.013 patch[forums.defiance.com]

v1.4 (2013-05-31 CET) — all Episode: Plague data recorders are there!

• Added data recorders from Episode: Plague
  
• Started using Steam screenshots instead of uploading them myself to the guide
  
• Removed the requirements for co-op missions, since they are visible in-game now
  
• Updates in [Introduction[/i] reflecting the changes with addtion of the Episode content, as well as various fixes
  
• Various fixes in Version History & TODO; also merged Google Drive & Steam guide updates in previous update notes

v1.5 (2013-05-31 CET) — all Episode: Svushinnira data recorders are there!

• Added dummy data recorders from Episode: Plague
  
• Minor changes in names of the files in Google Drive folder
  
• Changes to the Google Drive screenshots URL

v1.6 (2013-06-16 CET) — bonus Episode: Plague data recorder is there!

• Added a bonus data recorder from Episode: Plague
  
• Added additional note about bonus and dummy recorders to Introduction
  
• Added a note about pre-1.020 screens
  
• Few changes in TODO

v1.7 (2013-07-30 CET) — all Episode: Manhunt data recorders are there! (finally)

• Added data recorders from Episode: Manhunt
  
• Changed a note about Episode: Svushinnira data recorders
  
• Updated Credits & Thanks section
  
• Updated Introduction section
  
• Added a warning about guide being image-heavy

TODO:

• Add an overview map with recorders locations marked (like this map[forums.defiance.com])
  
• Replace the pre-1.4 screenshots with Steam screenshots
  
• Embed or add links to the videos aside from screenshots (Someone else's, because I won't do the videos myself)
  
• Add text & voice to the recorders. Preferably links to the wiki or a similar database
  
• Add the descriptions of the recorders and pursuits
  
• Appendix with custom orders - for example based on appearance in Intel window

Credits:

• lucky20seven for Defiance Data Recorders[docs.google.com] list.
  
• Slade “bwar” Saretsky and http://www.arkfalls.com/ for the Defiance leveling guides[www.arkfalls.com].
  
• Lurechus for Data Recorder Location Guide[forums.defiance.com] videos.
  
• OwenBDead for Episode 1 & 2 Data Recorder location guide[forums.defiance.com].

I would also like to thank:

• Etaew (IGN: Etaew, PC EU) and Defiance Data[www.defiancedata.com] for his awesome Defiance site!
  
• My girlfriend (IGN: Molly, PC EU) for pointing me out this location and playing with me.
  
• My and Molly's friend for playing with us when she have some spare time :).