Slack space is extra space that may contain information such as passwords or web pages viewed. Slack space is important to forensic scientists because it shows a suspect deleted files that might have been used in a crime. Why is data placed in free or slack space? What is file slack ?
Often, slack space can contain relevant information about a suspect that a prosecutor can use in a trial. For example, if a user deleted files that filled an entire hard drive cluster, and then saved new files that only filled half of the cluster, the latter half would not necessarily be empty.
What is slack space?
Slack space refers to the storage area of a hard drive ranging from the end of a stored file to the end of that file cluster. In typical hard drives, the computer stores files on the drive in clusters of a certain file size. For example, the file system on the hard drive may store data in clusters of four kilobytes.
Moreover, why is slack space important in e-discovery?
To understand why slack space plays an important role in E-discovery, one must first understand how data is stored on computers that have hard disk drives. Computers with hard disk drives store data in a sealed unit that contains a stack of circular, spinning disks called platters.
What happens to slack space on a hard drive?
When the computer’s hard drive is brand new, the space in a sector that is not used – the slack space – is blank, but that changes as the computer gets used. When a file is deleted, the operating system doesn’t erase the file, it simply makes the sector the file occupied available for reallocation.
How much slack space should be allocated to a file sector?
Should a new file that is only 200 bytes be allocated to the original sector, the sector’s slack space will now contain 200 bytes of leftover data from the first file in addition to the original 112 bytes of extra space.
Why is slack space important for forensics?
If the computer stores a file that is only two kilobytes in a four kilobyte cluster, there will be two kilobytes of slack space. Slack space is an important form of evidence in the field of forensic investigation. Often, slack space can contain relevant information about a suspect that a prosecutor can use in a trial.
Why do we use slack?
It’s all because of Slack. Slack has not only improved the flow of communication throughout the team, it has also improved our overall productivity as well. Slack allows us to focus on using email for other areas of our work. It has also given us one place to look when we need to locate something for our team.
You should be wondering “What makes slack so good?”
Slack does two things really well: design and understanding its users’ needs. These twin pillars are the basis of most good products but are surprisingly difficult to do well, as many a failed app will prove.
What is slack app and how does it work?
Slack is a workplace communication tool, or as they themselves put it, “a single place for messaging, tools, and files”.
Slack has not only improved the flow of communication throughout the team, it has also improved our overall productivity as well. Slack allows us to focus on using email for other areas of our work. It has also given us one place to look when we need to locate something for our team.