external hard drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ronald E. Foltz
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Ronald E. Foltz

when using an external hard drive (usb) does the information you put into it
go through your PC's hard drive also??? can it be retrieved from you PC's
hard drive once the external hard drive is removed???
thanks for any info
 
Ronald E. Foltz said:
when using an external hard drive (usb) does the information you put into it
go through your PC's hard drive also??? can it be retrieved from you PC's
hard drive once the external hard drive is removed???
thanks for any info
Click to expand...

If you move data from your internal drive to your external drive...
though the data is deleted from the internal drive...
using 3rd party software it's possible that data could be retrieved.

If you are worried about security you could get a utility to "wipe" the free
space
 
Ronald said:
when using an external hard drive (usb) does the information you put into it
go through your PC's hard drive also??? can it be retrieved from you PC's
hard drive once the external hard drive is removed???
thanks for any info
Click to expand...
The two drives are independent of each other. Its just like another
drive in the desktop if you had it there. Other than the turning it off
issue.
The other responder talks about the common problem of windows not
actually deleting files but just marking the space as available to
reuse. But said nothing about moving files from HD to HD, you were
talking about putting files on the external drive. I assume like
saving files from the internet lets say, or from a CD or from a thumb
drive or if you wrote them in Word. In which case the only copy would
be the ones you create on the external drive. And if you remove the
drive they are gone for all practical purposes to anyone snooping your pc.
 
Big said:
The two drives are independent of each other. Its just like another
drive in the desktop if you had it there. Other than the turning it off
issue.
The other responder talks about the common problem of windows not
actually deleting files but just marking the space as available to
reuse. But said nothing about moving files from HD to HD, you were
talking about putting files on the external drive. I assume like
saving files from the internet lets say, or from a CD or from a thumb
drive or if you wrote them in Word. In which case the only copy would
be the ones you create on the external drive. And if you remove the
drive they are gone for all practical purposes to anyone snooping your pc.
Click to expand...

We could use downloading porn as an example.

Say I have two disk drives. C: is my internal drive. E: is my brand
new external USB drive.

Depending on the tool used, the tool may use the $TEMP directory.
At least Windows would. The download would be stored in the temporary
folder on the C: drive, and then at the last instant, would be moved
to the E: drive. The space on C: is marked free, but the sectors
containing the pornographic image are still present on the C: drive.
A person with forensic tools, can easily recover the file from the C: drive,
at least until some future point in time, where a new file happens to be
placed on top of those particular free sectors.

As Philo described, a tool which overwrites "free space", is one way
to physically remove the stuff that used to live in C:, in the
$TEMP directory. You would empty the "Recycle Bin", go to your
browser and clear the file cache, then run the free space wiping tool.
(There may be other spots that could use a cleaning as well, like
your cookie collection, but you get the basic idea.)

The computer system memory, may also contain a copy of the file. If
law enforcement officers were to burst into the house right now, and
you jumped out a window holding your E: drive under your arm, the
system memory may still contain the pornographic image. Shutting
down the computer and unplugging it, is one way to take care of that.

I doubt that the page file, ever sees the contents of file caching
(because that would be dumb), but the page file is another place
that user information could be hiding in. For example, an encryption
key could be sitting in the page file, for all I know.

The best security, is taking the boot drive with you :-) Using a tray
mount system, you can remove the drive tray and take it with you.
Otherwise, you'll need to do more security research, to discover
all the potential mechanisms that could expose your data.

And I don't even know anything about security :-) Your computer is a
"leaky boat" when it comes to information. Always assume the worst,
when it comes to security matters. When you jump out the window,
tuck your C: drive under your arm.

Paul
 
SNIP<
And I don't even know anything about security :-) Your computer is a
"leaky boat" when it comes to information. Always assume the worst,
when it comes to security matters. When you jump out the window,
tuck your C: drive under your arm.

Paul
Click to expand...
Paul, I think I saw that same scenario on tv--was quite a high 2nd-story
floor from which he jumped...s
 
Paul said:
We could use downloading porn as an example.

Say I have two disk drives. C: is my internal drive. E: is my brand
new external USB drive.

Depending on the tool used, the tool may use the $TEMP directory.
At least Windows would. The download would be stored in the temporary
folder on the C: drive, and then at the last instant, would be moved
to the E: drive. The space on C: is marked free, but the sectors
containing the pornographic image are still present on the C: drive.
A person with forensic tools, can easily recover the file from the C:
drive,
at least until some future point in time, where a new file happens to be
placed on top of those particular free sectors.

As Philo described, a tool which overwrites "free space", is one way
to physically remove the stuff that used to live in C:, in the
$TEMP directory. You would empty the "Recycle Bin", go to your
browser and clear the file cache, then run the free space wiping tool.
(There may be other spots that could use a cleaning as well, like
your cookie collection, but you get the basic idea.)

The computer system memory, may also contain a copy of the file. If
law enforcement officers were to burst into the house right now, and
you jumped out a window holding your E: drive under your arm, the
system memory may still contain the pornographic image. Shutting
down the computer and unplugging it, is one way to take care of that.

I doubt that the page file, ever sees the contents of file caching
(because that would be dumb), but the page file is another place
that user information could be hiding in. For example, an encryption
key could be sitting in the page file, for all I know.

The best security, is taking the boot drive with you :-) Using a tray
mount system, you can remove the drive tray and take it with you.
Otherwise, you'll need to do more security research, to discover
all the potential mechanisms that could expose your data.

And I don't even know anything about security :-) Your computer is a
"leaky boat" when it comes to information. Always assume the worst,
when it comes to security matters. When you jump out the window,
tuck your C: drive under your arm.

Paul
Click to expand...
Boy, poor Ronald is looking over his shoulder for the FBI now!
I wiping mine clean too!
:-)
 
Ronald E. Foltz said:
when using an external hard drive (usb) does the information you put into
it go through your PC's hard drive also??? can it be retrieved from you
PC's hard drive once the external hard drive is removed???
thanks for any info
Click to expand...

If the external drive is set up as 'optimised for speed' then 'yes'.
Otherwise No, though of course if the application drops temporary files that
contain all or part of that data, then still yes.
 
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