In a forensic examination of hard drives for digital evidence, what type of user is most likely to have the most file slack to analyze?
In a forensic examination of hard drives for digital evidence, what type of user is most likely to have the most file slack to analyze?
File slack is the unused space at the end of a file cluster that may contain leftover data from previously deleted files or data fragments. Users who have lots of allocation units per block or cluster are most likely to have more file slack because larger clusters can lead to more residual space. Larger allocation units per block mean that small files or those not completely filling a cluster will leave more unused slack space, which forensic investigators can analyze for hidden or residual data.
File slack refers to the space between the end of a file and the end of the last cluster allocated to that file. The more allocation units (or clusters) per block, the larger the potential slack space can be. Users with larger clusters will generally have more slack space, as smaller files or partially filled clusters will leave more unused space that can contain residual data from previous files or operations.