Data pads
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
The Data pads are hidden computer pads encountered throughout the Halo: Reach campaign. Similar to the Terminals found in Halo 3 and the Audio logs found in Halo 3: ODST, the pads contain their own, self-contained story, presented as exchanges between members of a mysterious AI collective known as the Assembly and messages by a human individual who has discovered the clandestine activities of the group.
A total of nineteen data pads can be found in various locations throughout the game's campaign, with at least two data pads in every level, excluding The Mission Lone Wolf. Each data pad is numbered; letters or words are replaced with numbers in each data pad message representing the number of the data pad. Data pads numbered 1-9 can be found on any difficulty settings whereas data pads 10-19 can only be found on the Legendary difficulty settings. The in-game model for the data pads feature text in their inactive modes that do not represent the actual content.
Transcripts
 |
The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included. |
All difficulties
Location: Play the level "Winter Contingency" on any difficulty, starting from the point where the civilian truck "Spade" can be used. In the second structure encountered by crossing the bridge, the structure on the right of the circular area is a group of dead civilians, one of them with the Data Pad on his side.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "ONI: Sword Base on any difficulty, the data pad is located inside the facility's atrium, on the third floor. It is inside the same room as the BOB, underneath the staircase leading to the fourth floor. That place is where the Shotgun spawn in the multiplayer map Sword Base.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Nightfall" on any difficulty, starting from the beginning of the level. Stick to the right side of the wall and walk towards the next part of the level. One should enter a small cave, and along the left wall of the cave and between two rocks and shrubs lies a data pad.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Tip of the Spear" on any difficulty, the data pad is inside the BXR Mining facility, the area below where the player is instructed to kill a Sangheili Zealot. Jump down the hole and get to the room where the Plasma Launcher is located. On the opposite side of the room is 3 UNSC crates and rack behind it. The Data pad is on the second shelf of the rack.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Long Night of Solace" on any difficulty, the data pad is inside the Sabre Launch facility. On the left of the control room (where the player can see a hologram of the Covenant corvette), is a small elevated area lit by red lights. The data pad can be found in front of the control desk, beside a human corpse.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Exodus" on any difficulty, starting from where the player will acquire a Jetpack. Before entering the interior of another building (where the player will be told to fly up to the highest floor), there is a construction platform on top of the doorway. The data pad is located on the construction platform's walkway, beside a civilian corpse.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "New Alexandria" on any difficulty and head to the Olympic Tower (known as the ONI HQ in-game). There are seven buildings in a circle around the tower, six of which have flat spaces which hold Shade turrets during the final sequence of the level. The seventh one has a large wedge shape taking up most of the roof; the data pad is on the north side (the side with five vent units on it) of this roof next to a door.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "The Package" on any difficulty. After entering the main atrium of Sword Base, the data pad is located at the left of the door the player needs to activate to trigger the cutscene.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "The Pillar of Autumn" on any difficulty and get past the area where the multiplayer map "Boneyard" takes place. After entering the interior again, the player will go pass two dead troopers. Stick to the right side of the corridor, and there should be two windows looking at two room on the right side of the corridor. The second room, which can be accessed by breaking the window and jumping into it, on its further left corner, has a pile of cardboard boxes and a table, which is where the data pad is on.
Data pads/tmpLegendary difficulty
Location: Play the level "Winter Contingency" on Legendary difficulty, a cloaked SpecOps Elite will spawn near the site of the distress beacon, fleeing from the area to the bottom of the first hill. It holds a data pad, which can be accessed if the Elite is killed.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "ONI: Sword Base" on Legendary difficulty and go to Farragut Station. Head to the building where the switch to the Comms relay is located, and on the back of the building is a broken extension to the cliff next to it (the cliff is where the players start in the level "The Package"). Jump to the cliff, and head east. The data pad is located around the area.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Nightfall" on Legendary difficulty, and play until the Reach militia troopers are found fighting Covenant troops. Continue on through the valley, and jump on the rocks on the right of the entrance. Make way to the data pad by jumping to other rocks, across a large gap requiring Sprint, and eventually, just before reaching the rock bridge (where Jun and the troopers will take cover from the Phantom), a data pad can be found on the right side of the valley. This will take some time to find.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Tip of the Spear" on Legendary difficulty, and when in the area where the second Tyrant AA cannon is, jump on to the columns to get to the destroyed bridge. Beside the damaged Warthog and dead UNSC Army troopers, a data pad can be found.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Long Night of Solace" on Legendary difficulty, and get to the where the Sabre is in the launch facility. Just before the climbing the stairs outlined yellow, look to one's left, and a platform can be seen. Jump on to the platform, and use the gray light scaffolding to get to the grey diagonal pillar. Continue through the pillar and one should reach the end of it, where the data pad lies.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Exodus" on Legendary difficulty, and reach the area where the Jackal snipers and Brute Captains are encountered (The large plaza across from Traxus Tower and the sniper rifle). To the right directly across from the executive landing pad, you will see some pipes leading to a series of zig-zagging struts. Fly over to the struts from the east side of the plaza (you can only very nearly reach the struts from the landing pad) and climb up them until you reach the pair of vent units at the top. The datapad is sitting on top of the right one.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "New Alexandria" on Legendary difficulty, and start from the beginning of level. Turn around and head southeast. The first building encountered has the data pad. Fly to the bottom, and a message will appear on the HUD, which reads "TOO LOW!!! PULL UP!!!". This is the altitude the data pad is on. Fly closer to the building, and the area that is sticking in has a data pad on the left at the end of the rail.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "The Package" on Legendary difficulty, and get a Jetpack outside Dr. Halsey's lab. Fly towards the southeast of the Wolf Spider Turret labelled "C", and eventually reaching a cliff face. On the right side, there is a small cliff, and a data pad is on it.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "The Pillar of Autumn" on Legendary difficulty, and get to the area used as the multiplayer map "Boneyard". Outside the garage (where the Scorpion spawns in Invasion, on the roof of the building, there is a data pad.
Data pads/tmpLocation: Play the level "Lone Wolf" on Legendary difficulty, and get to where the dead Spartan and his/her sniper rifle lie on metal planks. There is a big pipe beside the metal planks. The data pad is located inside the pipe. Even though there is a metal fence between the player and the data pad, the data pad can still be accessed.
Data pads/tmpTrivia
- Finding the data pads in Halo: The Master Chief Collection will unlock 21 achievements: one for each of the 19 pads, Canonical Conundrum for finding all of them, and Clear and Present Danger for killing the SpecOps Elite that carries Pad 10.
- Similar to the Halo 3 Terminals, data pads have reversed Forerunner audio in the background.[1]
- Accessing a data pad while using an assault rifle may cause the rifle to fire continuously until the player runs out of ammunition.[citation needed]
- If one uses the Recon control layout and quickly scrolls back through the data pad pages, they may find that they will begin to activate their armor ability or even throw a grenade.
- Data pad 14 makes no mention of Hat Yai or Circinius IV in the list of glassed planets, despite both worlds having been destroyed prior to January 1, 2530. Circinius IV's omission is understandable as it was created for the 2012 film Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Hat Yai, however, was first introduced in the Halo: Evolutions short story Dirt, released ten months before Halo: Reach.
