Understanding Hard Disks and File Systems


Book Description

Are you curious about how your computer stores and manages data? "Understanding Hard Disks and File Systems" is your go-to guide for diving into the world of computer storage. This eBook breaks down the essentials of hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and the various file systems that keep your data organized and accessible. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, a student, or an IT professional, you'll find clear explanations and practical insights to enhance your understanding of: The differences between HDDs and SSDs and their impact on performance How data is stored, retrieved, and managed on different types of drives Popular file systems like NTFS, FAT32, ext4, and others Tips for optimizing your storage for better performance and reliability Common issues and troubleshooting techniques With straightforward language and real-world examples, "Understanding Hard Disks and File Systems" demystifies the technical aspects of data storage. Equip yourself with the knowledge to make informed decisions and effectively manage your digital data. Dive in and take control of your storage solutions today!




Understanding Hard Disk and File System


Book Description

A good understanding of storage devices and file systems helps investigators locate information during the investigation process. A forensic investigator must have knowledge of the structure and functioning of storage devices used in various computing devices. In the book "Understanding Hard Disks and File Systems," you will learn about storage devices such as hard disk drives and SSDs. You will understand more about the components and characteristics of disk drives in a better way. Further, we will understand the logical structure of these storage devices and the distribution of data on the disk. Computer hardware is nothing without the operating system and software. In the next chapter of this book, we will learn about how different operating system works. We will understand the booting process of Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems in a concise manner. we will look into file systems in these operating systems. Furthermore, we will examine file systems using forensics tools such as Autopsy and the sleuth kit. As storage technology is advancing, we have got various new technology to store our digital data. Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) and Network-Attached Storage (NAS) are helping organizations and individuals store their information in an efficient way. Hence, we will also go through NAS and RAID storage systems. There we will learn more about the architecture and working of these storage systems. In Digital Forensics Investigations, investigators in search of the remnants of deleted files, use Hex Editors which shows the physical contents of the disk including the files, folders, and partitions. So we will spend some of our time learning character encoding and hexadecimal notation. Further, at the end of this book, we will learn to analyze PDF, JPEG, and other document formats using Hex editors to find any malicious segment embedded in them.




File System Forensic Analysis


Book Description

The Definitive Guide to File System Analysis: Key Concepts and Hands-on Techniques Most digital evidence is stored within the computer's file system, but understanding how file systems work is one of the most technically challenging concepts for a digital investigator because there exists little documentation. Now, security expert Brian Carrier has written the definitive reference for everyone who wants to understand and be able to testify about how file system analysis is performed. Carrier begins with an overview of investigation and computer foundations and then gives an authoritative, comprehensive, and illustrated overview of contemporary volume and file systems: Crucial information for discovering hidden evidence, recovering deleted data, and validating your tools. Along the way, he describes data structures, analyzes example disk images, provides advanced investigation scenarios, and uses today's most valuable open source file system analysis tools—including tools he personally developed. Coverage includes Preserving the digital crime scene and duplicating hard disks for "dead analysis" Identifying hidden data on a disk's Host Protected Area (HPA) Reading source data: Direct versus BIOS access, dead versus live acquisition, error handling, and more Analyzing DOS, Apple, and GPT partitions; BSD disk labels; and Sun Volume Table of Contents using key concepts, data structures, and specific techniques Analyzing the contents of multiple disk volumes, such as RAID and disk spanning Analyzing FAT, NTFS, Ext2, Ext3, UFS1, and UFS2 file systems using key concepts, data structures, and specific techniques Finding evidence: File metadata, recovery of deleted files, data hiding locations, and more Using The Sleuth Kit (TSK), Autopsy Forensic Browser, and related open source tools When it comes to file system analysis, no other book offers this much detail or expertise. Whether you're a digital forensics specialist, incident response team member, law enforcement officer, corporate security specialist, or auditor, this book will become an indispensable resource for forensic investigations, no matter what analysis tools you use.




Operating Systems


Book Description

"This book is organized around three concepts fundamental to OS construction: virtualization (of CPU and memory), concurrency (locks and condition variables), and persistence (disks, RAIDS, and file systems"--Back cover.




Linux


Book Description

CD-ROM contains: Electronic version of text in HTML format




Practical File System Design with the BE File System


Book Description

This new guide to the design and implementation of file systems in general - and the Be File System (BFS) in particularcovers all topics related to file systems, going into considerable depth where traditional operating systems books often stop. Advanced topics such as journaling, attributes, indexing, and query processing are covered in detail.




Understanding the Linux Kernel


Book Description

To thoroughly understand what makes Linux tick and why it's so efficient, you need to delve deep into the heart of the operating system--into the Linux kernel itself. The kernel is Linux--in the case of the Linux operating system, it's the only bit of software to which the term "Linux" applies. The kernel handles all the requests or completed I/O operations and determines which programs will share its processing time, and in what order. Responsible for the sophisticated memory management of the whole system, the Linux kernel is the force behind the legendary Linux efficiency. The new edition of Understanding the Linux Kernel takes you on a guided tour through the most significant data structures, many algorithms, and programming tricks used in the kernel. Probing beyond the superficial features, the authors offer valuable insights to people who want to know how things really work inside their machine. Relevant segments of code are dissected and discussed line by line. The book covers more than just the functioning of the code, it explains the theoretical underpinnings for why Linux does things the way it does. The new edition of the book has been updated to cover version 2.4 of the kernel, which is quite different from version 2.2: the virtual memory system is entirely new, support for multiprocessor systems is improved, and whole new classes of hardware devices have been added. The authors explore each new feature in detail. Other topics in the book include: Memory management including file buffering, process swapping, and Direct memory Access (DMA) The Virtual Filesystem and the Second Extended Filesystem Process creation and scheduling Signals, interrupts, and the essential interfaces to device drivers Timing Synchronization in the kernel Interprocess Communication (IPC) Program execution Understanding the Linux Kernel, Second Edition will acquaint you with all the inner workings of Linux, but is more than just an academic exercise. You'll learn what conditions bring out Linux's best performance, and you'll see how it meets the challenge of providing good system response during process scheduling, file access, and memory management in a wide variety of environments. If knowledge is power, then this book will help you make the most of your Linux system.




Hands-On Network Forensics


Book Description

Gain basic skills in network forensics and learn how to apply them effectively Key FeaturesInvestigate network threats with easePractice forensics tasks such as intrusion detection, network analysis, and scanningLearn forensics investigation at the network levelBook Description Network forensics is a subset of digital forensics that deals with network attacks and their investigation. In the era of network attacks and malware threat, it’s now more important than ever to have skills to investigate network attacks and vulnerabilities. Hands-On Network Forensics starts with the core concepts within network forensics, including coding, networking, forensics tools, and methodologies for forensic investigations. You’ll then explore the tools used for network forensics, followed by understanding how to apply those tools to a PCAP file and write the accompanying report. In addition to this, you will understand how statistical flow analysis, network enumeration, tunneling and encryption, and malware detection can be used to investigate your network. Towards the end of this book, you will discover how network correlation works and how to bring all the information from different types of network devices together. By the end of this book, you will have gained hands-on experience of performing forensics analysis tasks. What you will learnDiscover and interpret encrypted trafficLearn about various protocolsUnderstand the malware language over wireGain insights into the most widely used malwareCorrelate data collected from attacksDevelop tools and custom scripts for network forensics automationWho this book is for The book targets incident responders, network engineers, analysts, forensic engineers and network administrators who want to extend their knowledge from the surface to the deep levels of understanding the science behind network protocols, critical indicators in an incident and conducting a forensic search over the wire.




Fortress Rochester


Book Description




A Primer for Computational Biology


Book Description

A Primer for Computational Biology aims to provide life scientists and students the skills necessary for research in a data-rich world. The text covers accessing and using remote servers via the command-line, writing programs and pipelines for data analysis, and provides useful vocabulary for interdisciplinary work. The book is broken into three parts: Introduction to Unix/Linux: The command-line is the "natural environment" of scientific computing, and this part covers a wide range of topics, including logging in, working with files and directories, installing programs and writing scripts, and the powerful "pipe" operator for file and data manipulation. Programming in Python: Python is both a premier language for learning and a common choice in scientific software development. This part covers the basic concepts in programming (data types, if-statements and loops, functions) via examples of DNA-sequence analysis. This part also covers more complex subjects in software development such as objects and classes, modules, and APIs. Programming in R: The R language specializes in statistical data analysis, and is also quite useful for visualizing large datasets. This third part covers the basics of R as a programming language (data types, if-statements, functions, loops and when to use them) as well as techniques for large-scale, multi-test analyses. Other topics include S3 classes and data visualization with ggplot2.