Criminal Forensics

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  1. Posts : 247
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit Retail
       #1

    Criminal Forensics


    I watch a lot of reality crime shows. The main suspect's computer is always taken and scrubbed for data. The investigators always find search strings like "how to murder someone," "how to strangle," "how to avoid child support," etc.

    So, where is all of this data stored?
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  2. Posts : 12,364
    8 Pro x64
       #2

    When you delete something, it's not actually 'deleted'. It's merely flagged by the OS as re-usable blocks, so until that data is written over, it is still recoverable.


    For search strings, such as browser searches etc, they simply recover those files.
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  3. Posts : 3,187
    Main - Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-Bit; 2nd - Windows Server 2008 R2
       #3

    Are you a happily married man, bobland?
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  4. Posts : 8,398
    ultimate 64 sp1
       #4

    well that's great, i've just read the op, and now the words "how to strangle" are on my computer!

    oh noes - now they are on it twice!

    how do i get rid of them? would putting my ssd in the microwave work?
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  5. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #5

    Have a go at the #7 clean all in this tutorial at the link below to do a secure erase of an entire HDD though if you need to do an OS HDD you will have to boot to diskpart and run the wipe from there, see the second tutorial.

    Be advised: any of these methods make the data completely unrecoverable.


    Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

    SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

    DISKPART : At PC Startup

    Edit: If you prefer a partition-specific wipe of a single partition, instead of the entire HDD; the program will also do 2 flavors of the military DoD secure erase, have a look at Option Three of this tutorial.

    Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD
       Note

    Contrary to popular belief, doing a full format with Windows 7 does not remove any data at all, it just checks for sector errors and marks the space to be over-written as needed, all the data is still there including all the code from previous, failed installation attempts.
    Last edited by Bare Foot Kid; 19 Mar 2011 at 11:20. Reason: Edit
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  6. Posts : 2,240
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #6

    So the real questions are: How do you rewrite what data's there and what data's not there? What software to use to do so?

    Well I just wasn't fast enough...lol. Thanks BFK
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  7. Posts : 1,800
    Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1
       #7

    There are secure erase programs that will write hundreds of times zero's and ones to every block of your
    hard disk, especially if your paranoid and afraid of what the forensic investigators will find.

    Dang, now I have to do that to protect my game passwords

    Rich
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  8. Posts : 7,683
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    bobland said:
    I watch a lot of reality crime shows. The main suspect's computer is always taken and scrubbed for data. The investigators always find search strings like "how to murder someone," "how to strangle," "how to avoid child support," etc.

    So, where is all of this data stored?
    richnrockville said:
    There are secure erase programs that will write hundreds of times zero's and ones to every block of your
    hard disk, especially if your paranoid and afraid of what the forensic investigators will find.

    Dang, now I have to do that to protect my game passwords

    Rich
    Like piracy this is a give and take world - there are those who make software to recover data, and there are those who make software to delete it. Most of us mere mortals probably don't have access to either of those very sophisticated software packages.... or even know about them
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  9. Posts : 22,814
    W 7 64-bit Ultimate
       #9

    I have just edited my post #5 above to include additional information.
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  10. Posts : 247
    Windows 7 Professional SP1 64 bit Retail
    Thread Starter
       #10

    No one has answered my question. Where are search data strings stored? I can erase anything on my disks. That is not a problem. My question is out of curiosity. In most reality crime shows, what you see is what you get. On shows like CSI, the misinformation is so stupendous, it is laughable.
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