Data permanence refers to data that remains on a storage device after deletion. This occurs because standard deletion methods are not always effective. Methods to destroy data remnants include wiping, deleting, and shredding. Computer forensics can locate and recreate deleted data.
Data permanence refers to the physical aspects of data that can remain on a storage device, such as a floppy disk or hard drive, after the data has been erased or erased. This usually occurs because the standard methods by which data is deleted from a drive are rarely as effective as users might think. A number of methods have been used to get rid of this type of data, including wiping, deleting, and destroying data storage devices. Data remnant is often discovered using computer forensics to locate and recreate files or other types of data that may have been deleted from a device.
Data remnant formation typically occurs due to how computer software “purges” data from a disk or hard drive. When a user tells an operating system (OS) to delete a file, that file is typically moved from active use to a backup system. This is done, at least temporarily, to facilitate data recovery if the user realizes that a deletion was done by mistake and needs access to a deleted file.
Even when data is indeed “erased,” it usually isn’t actually removed from the hard drive. Instead, the operating system simply deletes the entry for the location of that data from its database or directory. This means that the “deleted” data still remains on the hard drive, until that location is reused by the operating system for storing new data, at which point it is overwritten. Even this overwritten data is not necessarily gone completely.
There are three common methods used to destroy the remnant of data and ensure that deleted information is difficult or impossible to recover. Clearing refers to the process of regulated overwriting of deleted data, often with a string of zeros, to ensure that accessing the data through basic software is more or less impossible. Deletion goes beyond erasing and makes the remnant of data left on a disk not easily accessible even by accessing a hard drive directly and using recovery software to find the remnant data on the disk. This usually involves using a device that demagnetizes the physical medium by influencing the magnetic field of the disk drive.
Shredding is the safest way to get rid of any leftover data on a device and involves physically destroying the hard drive or disk. This can be done by physically taking the device apart and destroying each piece, melting the device over high heat, or using acids and other corrosive chemicals to destroy it. The field of computer forensics typically uses data remnant on a disk or hard drive to find data that a user attempted to delete. Various laboratory methods and software programs can be used to access the data that is deleted, although deleted and destroyed data is much more difficult, perhaps impossible, to access.
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