Forensic Software

[Janetuniverse]

Hey, i have a big question, ive heard that once you delete something from your Recycling Bin, they are deleted forever. But recently i heard about something called "Forensic Software" that can be installed in a PC and recover all the deleted files, is this true? Can anyone use this? is it available somewhere?

Thanks!

Janetuniverse.

[harrycary]

There is a good, long article about it at Techtv.com.

From my understanding, the software to do such a thing is quite expensive($1000+) and available only to law enforcement. The companies that offer this as a service use their own proprietary software.

[J'Pol]

If you delete something from your hdd all that happens is that it is removed from the FAT (file allocation table). The data is still there, however the FAT knows that it can now use that area if it wants.

Eventually new data will be written over that area of the hdd and the file will be "deleted". However that can still be recovered using the appropriate software. Trust me I know this, as I have seen it done.

There is software available to completely obliterate files. This can be used to different levels. Options will be something like delete all data, fill this space with zeros, repeat x number of times.

These are standards. e.g. the US Military will have a standard for deleting secret material. The software available will work to that standard, or whichever one you chose.

[adamp2p]

Yep, Jpaul is right...however, if you have system mechanic you can pretty much really eliminate it with its incinerator feature...

[Janetuniverse]

System Mechanic? Is that a public software or also only for law enforcement? How does it work?

Janet.

[adamp2p]

You have to pay for it if you want a legal copy.

It is shareware, so you can use it for 30 days I think for free with all of the features.

Download System Mechanic 3.7h here

[Darth Sushi]

Or you can download 'Eraser' for free: http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/
This one can also create a floppy nuke disk, which will erase all HD detected. Beware: large files can take forever to erase. Picture yourself copying a 700 MB movie, which can be about 5 minutes. Multiply the time by 35 and you'll get the picture.

Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS.
Eraser is FREE software and its source code is released under GNU General Public License.
The patterns used for overwriting are based on Peter Gutmann's paper "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory" and they are selected to effectively remove magnetic remnants from the hard drive.

Other methods include the one defined in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defence and overwriting with pseudorandom data. You can also define your own overwriting methods.

[hawk]

with norton system works there is a way to get back deleted stuff works quite often, as long as you havent written something over the space on the hdd

[2nd gen noob]

look for a program called "EnCase". it's one of the programs that are used to make an evidence record of the contents of a drive and was mentioned on here a while ago.

you'll need to look for somewhere to download it yourselves, as it's a rather rare/expensive/illegal program.

looking at their on website, i believe it was $2500 or so for a license

you'll also need either 2 hard drives or 2 partitions to run it

[CornerPocket]

Originally posted by 2nd gen noob@30 June 2003 - 08:34
look for a program called "EnCase". it's one of the programs that are used to make an evidence record of the contents of a drive and was mentioned on here a while ago.

you'll need to look for somewhere to download it yourselves, as it's a rather rare/expensive/illegal program.

looking at their on website, i believe it was $2500 or so for a license

you'll also need either 2 hard drives or 2 partitions to run it

This is a sweetass program, know from first hand experience. B)


For home use I have Forensic Utility Suite.