Column: The Science of Digital Forensics: Recovery of Data from Overwritten Areas of Magnetic Media

Abstract

Seeking to understand the state of scientific consensus surrounding an area of forensics is often problematic. You cannot prove a claim about an unlimited set in the sense of testing every possibility. And yet there is a level of consensus surrounding the science of the day.This is a slightly altered portion of an expert report I wrote recently, released with permission, that I thought might serve as an example of how to go about seeking the truth and presenting the state of the science when truly definitive statements based on first principles are not available. Of course, I look forward to the readership proving me wrong with real-world examples, but somehow, I doubt if I will find any.(see PDF for full column)