Data can be destroyed in an attempt to cover up a crime or to cover traces when someone does not want you to follow the digital footprint. People can attempt to destroy the physical drives by deleting the data and physically damaging the drives by dropping them, burning them, putting them in water, or exposing them to magnets.
Data recovery involves many different methods to recover data from a drive. Data recovery methods can recover deleted data from drives as well as recover data from drives that have been damaged. Data can be recovered from many different drives, including computer hard drives, usb keys, cell phones, and even copy machines.
Computer forensic data recovery when someone has intentionally made it difficult is not something that the novice IT professional should attempt. When the data to be electronically discovered is relevant to a criminal or civil matter, it is important that a certified computer forensic professional who is also a certified data recovery expert handle the computer forensic recovery process. You do not want your information to be unusable in court.
Cases handled by E-Investigations have included:
- Recovery of financial information on a drive smashed by a blunt object
- Recovery of client files on a drive that was accidentally thrown into a pool
- Recovery of Auto CAD files on a drive that was exposed to heat, smoke, and water