A forensic copy also preserves file metadata and timestamps, while a logical copy does not. What is the difference between a forensic copy clone and a forensic evidence file? A Forensic Image is a comprehensive duplicate of electronic media such as a hard-disk drive.
What is the difference between a forensic image and a clone?
How do you distinguish an Image and a Clone? A Forensic Image is a comprehensive duplicate of electronic media such as a hard-disk drive.
What is a “forensic copy”?
“Forensic copies” differ in that they replicate every bit from every sector of the hard drive, whether that space is allocated or not. A forensic copy would capture not only the 200GB of visible files and folders, but would also capture the remaining 800GB of unallocated space.
Does a forensic clone increase the size of a backup?
It will definitely increase the size of your image backups, potentially drastically, because those images will include ALL sectors of the selected partition (s), even the ones that the file system says are empty. Thanks for the replies. I gather that it would be better not to do a forensic clone.
Do I need a forensic clone?
If you're looking to CLONE a running System, a forensic clone is not necessary. If you want to carry over possible hidden virri and old, yet to be retrieved deleted files... maybe. I see no use for it.
What is a forensic evidence file?
A forensic copy is a file-level copy of data from a hard disk. Before the copies are taken, the parties involved in the discovery process agree what type of files (email, purchase records, timecards, etc.) will be part of the forensic analysis, and then only those files are copied.
What is a forensic clone?
A forensic clone is an exact bit-for-bit copy of a piece of digital evidence. Files, folders, hard drives, and more can be cloned. A forensic clone is also known as a bit-stream image or forensic image.
What is drive cloning and how is it different than forensic imaging?
While a Clone can be used for digital forensic analysis, it is typically used to create working copies or exact replacement drive. Images are primarily used to forensically analyze and to preserve original data. They are petrified and in their Image format cannot be modified.
What is a forensic image file?
A forensic image (forensic copy) is a bit-by-bit, sector-by-sector direct copy of a physical storage device, including all files, folders and unallocated, free and slack space.
Why is a forensic copy important?
This is important to digital forensic investigators because unallocated space may contain deleted files or other residual data that can be invaluable during discovery. A forensic copy also preserves file metadata and timestamps, while a logical copy does not.
What are the types of forensic images?
Generally, there are three primary types of forensic image collection techniques: 1) creating a physical forensic image of the device; 2) collecting a logical image; or 3) doing a targeted collection of device data. Determining the appropriate forensic image format depends on the nature of the legal matter and budget.
Whats the difference between a clone and an image?
An image is a copy of all the information on a drive. Like a clone, an image copies all of the overhead and data stored on a drive. Unlike a clone, an image does not copy free space and makes no attempt to preserve physical layout.
What's the difference between clone and image?
Imaging can also be useful for defragmenting your drive. One reason image files take up less space than clones is imaging omits the free space on your drive, whereas cloning includes it. For this reason, images (unlike clones) aren't exact replicas of a drive.
What's the difference between cloning and imaging?
Cloning copies the complete contents of one drive—the files, the partition tables and the master boot record—to another: a simple, direct duplicate. Imaging copies all of that to a single, very large file on another drive. You can then restore the image back onto the existing drive or onto a new one.
What is a qualified forensic duplicate?
A forensic duplication is an accurate copy of data that is created with the goal of being admissible as evidence in legal proceedings. Furthermore, we define forensic duplication as an image of every accessible bit from the source medium.
Which is the standard forensic image format used?
EnCase is one of the most common image file formats created in forensic imaging. An EnCase image is a proprietary file type created by Guidance Software's EnCase software for use with its software packages.
Which is the best forensic acquisition image file format?
E01. The EnCase Evidence File is next to the RAW image format E01 the most commonly used imaging format. It contains a physical bitstream copy stored in a single or multiple files enriched with metadata, this metadata includes Case information, Examiner name, notes, checksums and an MD5 hash.
Can you tell if a hard drive has been cloned?
Yes; There will be traces. How easily those traces can be found depends on the skill of the person looking for those traces. If the cloning is done to a disk of exactly the same size, and is done bit-by-bit, I don't see how anyone can detect it. Except maybe by the sticker on the disk.
What is a forensic image Why is it used?
A forensic image allows you to conduct your investigation on an exact copy of the source device. Now your source device may be a thumb drive, hard drive, or SSD drive. You do not want to do your exam on the original evidence due to its fragility. It is very easy to change digital evidence inadvertently.
Why would it be a good idea to wipe a forensic drive before using it?
As a good forensic practice, why would it be a good idea to wipe a forensic drive before reusing it? Although EnCase only examines the contents within the evidence files, it is still good forensic practice to wipe/sterilize each hard drive prior to reusing it to eliminate the argument of possible cross-contamination.
Which has analysis is done in forensic duplication?
UNIX Forensic Analysis Now this utility has become a de facto standard for creating forensic duplicates of storage media and volatile memory, and has been ported to other operating systems.
What would you do if you told me to take a forensic copy of a folder?
If you told me to take a forensic copy of a folder - I would copy and compare hashes to originals
What is forensic image?
A forensic image is a verified bit for bit copy of an entire disk a forensic copy is the act of cloning files without changing the metadata and verifying each of the files with an MD5 hashsum.
Is computer forensics standardized?
While it would be desirable to have a reasonably fixed and generally approved termin ology for computer forensics, it has n't happened yet. As CF people generally are computer or IT people, they bring their own terminology along – and that isn't standardized to any great extent, even if there are attempts at doing so.
Can you copy a file from one location to another?
Looking at it one way, if you copy a file from one location to another, you can then compute hashes for both and verify that they are correct. The same with an image. However, if you define an image as making a bit-for-bit copy of the physical sectors, to include file slack…again, it simply depends on your definition.
What is forensic cloning?
A forensic clone is an exact bit-for-bit copy of a piece of digital evidence. Files, folders, hard drives, and more can be cloned. A forensic clone is also known as a bit-stream image or forensic image.
Why cloning is an important step in digital forensic investigations?
A forensic image of a hard drive captures everything on the hard drive, from the physical beginning to the physical end. Performing a “copy and paste” via the operating system is not the same as a forensic clone. A true forensic image captures both the active and latent data.
Forensic image formats
The end result of the cloning process is a forensic image of the source hard drive. Our finished clone can come in a few different formats. The file extension is the most visible indicator of the file format. Some of the most common forensic image formats include:
What is forensic image?
A simple answer would be that a forensic image contains all data stored on a device. But I believe this subject deserves a more comprehensive explanation.
How to make a forensic image sound?
One of the most important steps of making a forensic image forensically sound is documentation. Like stated before it’s the golden rule of forensics that you never touch, change or alter anything until it has been documented.
What is a bitstream copy?
A Bitstream copy involves the copy of all areas of a storage device. Because a bit stream copy is a bit-by-bit copy of the original storage device it will also include the unallocated areas of a storage device.
What is the gold rule of forensics?
The gold rule of forensic also applies to digital forensics. When you want to investigate a system you need to document everything you can about the system. And in digital forensics, we are able to something special. We are able to create a 100% identical copy of the evidence.
Can you create a forensic image?
While it is possible to create a forensic image yourself . I would highly recommend hiring an expert to perform any kind of forensic data acquisition.
Can you write a physical image back to the original?
Since a physical image is a bitstream copy of a storage device you will be able to write this image back to the other storage device and create an identical copy of the original. This can be extremely useful if you want to boot up the original system (e.g. for live examination of the system).
Can you recover deleted files with a logical image?
If the suspect has deleted important files prior to the creation of the logical image, there is no way to recover them with a logical image. You should always try to create a physical image when it is suspected that the user might have deleted important data.
Why is forensic copy important?
This is important to digital forensic investigators because unallocated space may contain deleted files or other residual data that can be invaluable during discovery. A forensic copy also preserves file metadata and timestamps, while a logical copy does not.
Do forensics and original media have the same hash?
Understanding these properties, we can expect that our original media and our forensic copy will produce the same hash value if, and only if, they are identical. After we have calculated our initial hash value, we will run our forensic copy through the hash function. If the two hashes are equal, we can be assured the underlying data is identical.