Paper 75-Data Recovery Comparative Analysis
Paper 75-Data Recovery Comparative Analysis
net/publication/364056156
Article in International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications · September 2022
DOI: 10.14569/IJACSA.2022.0130975
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Abstract—Data recovery is one of the forensic techniques used backup, which is a preventive measure that is intentionally
to recover data that has been lost or deleted. Data recovery is done to protect data by copying or copying data to other
carried out if there is a condition where the data that has been storage media [9].
owned is deleted or damaged. If the data has been lost or deleted
or even tampered with, then a forensic expert has several ways to This study aims to determine the forensic tools that are
restore data that has been lost or damaged. One of them is to use useful today and in the future. To overcome the occurrence of
a complete data recovery method using forensic tools, namely, data loss, a digital forensics expert is needed [10]. Data
TSK Recover, FTK Imager, Foremost Recover, and Testdisk recovery is one of the techniques that must be mastered by
Recover. Unfortunately, tools such as FTK imager and TSK digital forensic experts [11]. If there is data damage or data
recover have a weakness, namely that some damaged or loss, then it is the job of a forensics officer to recover data that
corrupted data files cannot be restored in their entirety; they can has been lost or damaged [12]. Several cases of data
only be recovered but not be opened. This study uses a tool corruption or data loss are one of the challenges that digital
comparison method approach using foremost recover and forensics experts must face. There are several data recovery
Testdisk recover. It's just that this method cannot be used using tools used by digital forensic experts, such as Autopsy, FTK
the graphic user interface (GUI) but using the CLI (Command imager, TSK recover, Foremost, and Testdisk [13].
Line) in the LINUX operating system. And the files that have
been recovered will be fully recovered. In the case of previous research, many forensic experts use
this tool as a tool to find evidence [14]. This tool is very
Keywords—Recovery; tools; FTK imager; foremost; Testdisk helpful for recovering data that has been lost or damaged, but
this tool has a certain weakness, when restoring data or data
I. INTRODUCTION recovery, namely data that has been damaged can only be
Data loss is a condition where the data that has been recovered but cannot be opened in its entirety, therefore the
owned becomes corrupted or deleted [1]. According to several solution what is needed is a complete recovery, data that has
researchers, there are many companies or individuals who been retrieved / damaged can be recovered and reopened the
accidentally delete their personal data. It is very important for same as before. To overcome this problem, a forensic expert
digital forensic analysts to have the right tools to recover data uses recovery tools in a storage [15].
[2]. All devices store a lot of important data and information
Recovery of the data to be recovered is in the allocated
that is always used for personal and corporate purposes.
space and unallocated space [16]. This space stores all files
Forensic tools are used by thousands of digital forensic
that are still available and can be read logically, and stores all
professionals. The functionality of forensic tools varies greatly
files that are no longer available, even if they have been
[3].
deleted from storage and cannot be read logically [17].
Currently, there are many simple data recovery tools;
From some of the references found, it can be concluded
several features have been provided consistently for more
that previous research related to the themes discussed included
effective forensic extraction to get the whole data [4].
many case studies that used forensic tools and used several
including image storage, file data hashing, data visualization,
methods to recover lost data [18]. The data is stored in various
and data carving on damaged images. However, most of these
storage devices such as flash drives, HDDs, SSDs, and RAM.
tools are paid for [5]. Due to the limited inspection features,
The storage is on mobile devices, computers, and even
the extracted data cannot be ported directly to the circuit to
servers. Data recovery methods also vary depending on the
extract additional evidence. In this study, I present several
storage to be processed. One of them is using autopsy tools or
tools that will help forensic analysts perform open source-
other forensic tools [19]. This tool is very helpful for forensic
based data recovery on Linux [6].
experts to find lost data files, such as JPG, MP4, PDF, PNG,
Data recovery is the process of recovering a problematic or Doc, Zip, Rar files, and so on. It's just that this tool has certain
lost system so that it can be recovered as usual [7]. Data weaknesses when it comes to data retrieval or data recovery.
recovery is also a forensic technique that is often used to Data that has been damaged can only be recovered but cannot
search for digital artifacts that have been lost or deleted from be opened in its entirety. Therefore, the solution needed is full
devices such as cellphones, computers, and laptops [8]. Data
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Formost. The program was altered in 2005 as part of a Copy file from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and partitions
master's thesis by Nick Mikus, a researcher at the Naval deleted ext2/ext3/ext4
Graduate School's Center for Information Security Studies and
Research. Among these changes were improved accuracy and A forensic expert who is looking into a case involving data
foremost extraction rates. loss or corruption will find this Testdisk to be of great
assistance. Fig. 3 depicts a sample of the Testdisk recover
This method is intended to read and copy data straight technique.
from the disk into the computer's memory without taking into
account the underlying file system type. The method of file
carving is used by Formost Recover to look for header file
types that coincide with those in the formost configuration
file. There are no alternatives for a graphical user interface,
hence the command line interface is primarily used. The JPG,
GIF, PNG, BMP, AVI, EXE, MPG, WAV, RIFF, WMV,
MOV, PDF, PLE, DOC, ZIP, RAR, HTM, and CPP file
formats can all be recovered using the first
approach. Additional file types can be specified in the
configuration file formost.conf, which is typically located in
/usr/local/etc. It can be used to recover data from hard disks
that use the ex3, NTFS, or FAT file systems as well as directly
from picture files. In example, it can be used to retrieve data
from a smartphone via a computer as shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Example Image Testdisk Recover Method.
Preparation of
evidence and Imaging file Analysis of
providing files in
extraction
storage recovery
Fig. 2. Example Image Foremost Recover Method.
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Functions & Features Data can be recovered from lost or deleted partitions using
the free and open-source Testdisk recover utility. A digital
Full Disk Forensic Image forensics specialist can restore partitions that are unable to
File Decryption & Password Crack boot due to reasons including malware attacks and purposeful
or unintentional loss of the partition table using this CLI-based
Parsing Registry Files application, which does not have a user interface version.
Collect, Process, and Analyze Data Sets Containing Fig. 9 illustrates how the recovery procedure using the
Apple's File System Testdisk recover program was successful in restoring lost and
damaged files.
Locate, Manage and Filter Mobile Data
Visualization Technology
This utility is frequently used to restore erased data.
However, it is clear that allocated and unallocated files differ
throughout the recovery step. As seen in Fig. 7, it is a file that
can be recovered but cannot be opened.
C. Analysis
The analysis step is where the outcomes of the files that
have been checked are examined. A comparison of the data
recovery tools, when situations like missing or damaged files
Fig. 7. File Recovery Process on FTK Imager.
arise, you must use the resources at your disposal to find a
solution. You must experiment with all of the forensic tools,
The Foremost Recovery Tool is a program created to read not just one. It makes sense that certain tools are unable to
and copy certain areas of the disk straight into the computer's recover files perfectly while others are successful in doing so,
memory while ignoring the underlying file system type. For as in this study is shown by Tables V and VI.
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TABLE V. RESULTS OF STATUS RECOVERY ALLOCATED FILES recovery. Of the tools that have been tested, only 50% have
been fully recovered. Namely, TSK recover and FTK imager.
Status File Recovery While the foremost tool, Testdisk, can recover 100%
No Tools JPG PNG MP4 completely. However, tools that can't recover completely don't
mean they're not good. These tools are still recommended and
Allocated
can be used to assist investigators in the investigation process.
Investigators can have several options for forensic tools to
1 TSK Recover 100% 100% 100%
carry out the investigative process. This study aims to
determine the forensic tools that are useful today and in the
future.
2 FTK Imager 100% 100% 100%
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