Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
There.is.another.command.in.Windows.that.you.can.use..
(These.are.all.actually.old.DOS.commands.as.this.is.the.basic.
structure.that.Windows.was.built.on,.and.it.is.still.backwards.
compatible.with.these.commands.).You.would.use.this.instead.
if.you.wanted.to.copy.both.folders.and.iles..The.syntax.of.the.
command.is.the.same,.but.you.use.XCOPY.instead.of.COPY..
Again,.use.the./V.for.verify,.to.ensure.everything.you.copied.
is.the.same.on.both.ends.
On.a.Linux.operating.system.you.can.use.a.command.line.
that. compares. the. copied. iles. to. ensure. their. integrity:. cp.
“$ile”.“$dest”.&&.cmp.“$ile”.“$dest”.||.echo.“failed”..In.
this.case.you.would.substitute.name.of.the.ile.for.“$ile”.and.
the.path.to.that.ile.for.“$dest.”.You.would.insert.the.two.iles.
and.paths.for.the.iles.you.want.to.compare.on.either.side.of.
the.&&.cmp.in.the.command.line..The.echo.at.the.end.of.the.
command.will.respond.on.your.screen.with.the.word.“failed”.
if.the.two.iles.do.not.match.
Unix.and.Linux.operating.systems.have.several.ways.that.
you.can.copy.different.quantities.of.data.and.ensure.they.are.
the.same.on.both.ends,.but.this.example.will.work.for.smaller.
groups.of.iles..To.copy.directories.you.add.the.
-r
.switch.into.
the.command.line.right.after.the.
cp
..If.you.choose.to.use.this.
more.basic.approach.you.simply.need.to.document.carefully.
that.this.is.what.you.did.so.you.can.show.that.you.have.done.
your.best.to.maintain.the.integrity.of.the.copied.information.
If. you. need. to. preserve. larger. volumes. of. data,. such. as.
entire.hard.drives,.you.can.use.forensic.imaging.tools.to.do.
so.. Some. of. these. are. actual. hardware. and. some. use. soft-
ware.to.accomplish.this..In.either.case.you.connect.the.hard.
drive.or.the.computer.containing.the.hard.drive.to.software.
or.hardware.that.includes.what.is.called.a.
write.blocker
.
As.noted,.every.time.a.computing.device.accesses.infor-
mation. it. can. potentially. change. that. information. subtly. by.
changing. the. access. time,. or. making. other. changes. to. the.
metadata..A.write.blocker,.whether.it.is.hardware.or.software.
based,.does.not.allow.any.data.to.be.written.to.the.iles.or.
data.storage.to.which.it.is.connected.
