Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The.central.processor.processes.that.information,.grabs.the.
data.from.whichever.storage.it.is.currently.residing.in,.and.
copies.it.to.the.next.available.space.on.the.hard.drive..Code.
is.added.to.the.data.set.that.identiies.it.to.the.central.pro-
cessor. for. future. access.. The. identifying. data. are. used. to.
index. the. data.. To. do. so. on. a. Windows. computer,. a. new.
record.is.created.in.a.Master.File.Table.(MFT).at.the.root.of.
the.hard.drive's.directory.structure..This.MFT.is.a.lat.data-
base.ile.that.contains.information.about.every.ile.created.on.
your.computer,.including.when.it.was.created,.modiied,.or.
accessed;.what.folder.it.is.in;.whether.it.is.still.active.or.not;.
and.other.information.
In.Apple,.Linux,.or.other.operating.systems.the.indexing.
and.tracking.of.iles.are.done.differently,.but.we.don't.have.
the. space. or. brain. capacity. to. get. into. all. of. the. different.
methods.here..However,.sufice.it.to.say.that.in.any.operating.
system,.in.any.type.of.computing.device,.there.will.always.be.
a. method. of. indexing. and. referencing. the. location,. format,.
and. status. of. every. ile. ever. created. on. that. device.. This. is.
true.even.if.that.ile.was.deleted.by.the.user.
The.only.exception.to.that.rule.is.if.the.storage.medium.
has.purposely.been.cleaned,.or.“wiped.”.This.involves.special.
tools.and.usually.takes.some.time.and.effort.to.accomplish,.
at.least.if.one.is.attempting.to.clean.all.traces.of.data.from.a.
device.of.any.size.
It. is. interesting. to. note. that. this. process. of. purposely.
deleting. or. “wiping”. your. drive. can. still. leave. traces. of.
itself..Those.traces.or.artifacts.of.that.activity.have.in.some.
cases. been. considered. as. evidence. of. wrongdoing.. There.
have.certainly.been.cases.in.which.law.enforcement.or.the.
courts. made. a. legitimate. and. accepted. assertion. that. the.
very. absence. of. evidence,. and. the. evidence. of. its. having.
been.tampered.with.by.someone.with.much.to.gain.from.its.
absence,.is.evidence.
The.lesson.here.is.that.every.tiny.action.you.take.on.your.
laptop,.desktop,.or.any.other.computing.device.for.that.mat-
ter,.has.an.effect.
