19 Jun
2010
19 Jun
'10
9:07 a.m.
On 19 Jun 2010 at 10:12, Kieron Wilkinson wrote:
Yes, as I said to Fred, I think we have it easy in
that regard because
we are only dealing with personal computer formats, and are not doing
file-level recovery. It is certainly the case that "secure" (verified)
disk imaging is rather a different problem to meaningful information
recovery.
You're dealing with *common* personal computer formats. Anyone want
to take a crack at a diskette from a Durango F-85? Since I've got
the machine here, I'd be happy to create a sample 5.25" for them to
play with.
It's certainly nice to talk to people who do do
that though! I don't
envy you, but I'm sure it's interesting and gratifying work (?)
It is interesting and gratifying in a way that we help recover long-
lost data and it keeps the mind occupied.
It's really a shame that the Dead Media Project seemed to be just a
flash in the pan.
Nasty. Might as well be a cryptanalysist for that sort
of thing! I
wonder if some statistical-based analysis would help, but perhaps you
are way ahead of me on that?
We've certainly decoded word-processor floppies using letter-
frequency analysis on more recent (e.g. 80s). There were several
typewriters, for example that stored their documents using daisy-
wheel position codes. GCR ordering can sometimes be decoded by
looking for clues, such as sector headers.
Fortunately, most non-PC filesystems are fairly simple.
--Chuck