July 18, 2005 11:07 AM -- Seth Kimmel asks: > Is this how data recovery and/or criminal investigators try to find data?
July 18, 2005 12:46 PM -- Tom Fitzpatrick warns: > Let that be a lesson to you: stop using your M100 to plan your world > domination plot right now! July 18, 2005 01:05 PM -- John R. Hogerhuis notes: > because of tripwires and such... but when you have a RAM only > device like a m100 or a PDA things get a bit more complicated (on the > Palm though, there are forensic tools available... and for the m100 I > know one expert who's m100 aware...) Data recovery? Criminal investigators? World domination plot? Forensic tools? Hmmm. This sounds like a job for Inspector Cleuseau and his FORensic-64 Criminal Investigation Tool for Model T Laptops. FORi%=-2^15to2^15-1:sound64*peek(i%),1:n ext Inspector Cleuseau has typed a strange cryptic BASIC statement on the Model T laptop -- it's only 43 keystrokes. But Inspector Cleuseau hesitates, and does not press the [ENTER] key. What's he up to now? The inspector is placing a tape recorder near the Model T. Now he's started the tape recorder. He glances at his wristwatch and now asks all the other investigators to please be quiet for the next 27 minutes and 23 seconds while FORensic-64 is in use. All is quiet now as Inspector Cleuseau approaches the keyboard once again. His finger reaches for the [ENTER] key while other folks in the room brace themselves for whatever may occur. He's done it -- Inspector Cleuseau has pressed the [ENTER] key! FORi%=-2^15to2^15-1:sound64*peek(i%),1:n ext[ENTER] FORensic-64 is underway! Incredible sound gushes from the Model T laptop now, and the tape recorder is recording it. The sound is difficult to describe: harsh at times, musical at times, sometimes with a rhythm and backbeat you would expect to hear on a dance floor, and sometimes only monotonous low-pitched growls are heard. It's a cacophony to be sure, but it's not random in nature and it certainly isn't mere noise. What can this sound be? Inspector Cleuseau now motions for everybody to leave the room quietly. Everyone departs. The inspector follows them and gently closes the door as he leaves the room, glancing at his wristwatch again. The inspector gives an order: "The sound recording, which by my watch should last for another 25 minutes, must not be disturbed. Don't allow anybody back into that room until I give the all clear." -- one law enforcement officer is posted to guard the door. "What happens afterwards?" asks another inspector. "We send the sound recording, the tape from the tape recorder, to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia for analysis." answered Inspector Cleuseau. Another asks: "What should we do while the recording is being made?" and a detective suggests "May as well go outside and face the news reporters now." -- muted grumbles are heard, but everyone agrees that now's the best time to go outside. Outside, the TV and newspaper reporters quickly surround Inspector Cleuseau. Cameras and microphones thrust toward him as the questions begin. Reporter#1: "Inspector Cleuseau, can you confirm that you were called into this investigation because the computer was of an unusual type that makes investigation rather difficult?" Inspector Cleuseau: "Yes, that's true." Reporter#2: "What's so unusual about it?" Inspector Cleuseau: "It has no magnetic disk drives whatsoever. So collecting evidence from the computer requires unusual methods." Reporter#2 again: "If there's no disk drives, how can there be any evidence to collect?" Inspector Cleuseau: "Instead of having magnetic media, the media in the computer is 100% memory, 50% of it is unchangable media, and the other 50% is changable media." Reporter#3: "So it's the changable media that holds the evidence that you're collecting?" Inspector Cleuseau: "Generally, yes. But we are recording all of the media content in order to be thorough in our investigation." Reporter#4: "Inspector, give my TV audience a thumbnail explanation of how you recorded the complete contents of a computer that has only memory for media. I bet it takes some very expensive special electronic equipment to do that, eh?" Inspector Cleuseau: "I'm not at liberty to discuss the special investigation tool that law enforcement uses for these unusual computer -- that's classified information. But I can say that the content within the computer gets converted to sound, and a recording of that sound is what we collect as evidence." Reporter#2 yet again: "Isn't it true that you haven't been able to collect any evidence at all in this case? It sounds like you're giving us a cover story rather than the truth." Inspector Cleuseau: "No, that's not true. At this very moment the evidence is being collected and the collection of evidence will be finished in just a few more minutes. I have given you the truth, not some cover story -- and I'll take no more questions at this time." With that said, Inspector Cleuseau went back inside and patiently waited for his wristwatch to indicate that evidence collection was finished. He entered the room, turned off the tape recorder and placed the tape into an evidence bag and sealed it. He looked at the screen of the Model T laptop and saw what he expected to see. ?OV Error Ok Keeper of the Primordial Bit (born of the Big Bit Bang), -= Ron =-
