Re: Recovery data after 57+ formats - fact or fiction??

I think that the article you are referring to was my article in which  
I recovered data from 150+ hard drives purchased on eBay. But the  
data was recovered with standard forensic tools.

There is no publicly available evidence that overwritten data has  
ever been recovered from a hard drive that was manufactured after 1995.

-Simson



On Oct 24, 2006, at 5:12 PM, michael@impactonline.com wrote:

> I am looking for an article I read sometime between 2002 and 2005.  
> The content discussed how a research lab (maybe MIT or another  
> large tech university) was able to recover data from a hard drive  
> after over 50 formats (or it may have been data overwrites or even  
> a combination of both) (I seem to remember the key number as 57  
> "deletion" operations). I think the article mentioned the use of a  
> scanning electron microscope, magnetic force scanning, or something  
> similar or more high-tech. This might have been published to a tech  
> Web news site or a tech e-mail newsletter. I've searched for hours  
> and I can't seem to locate it again.
>
> In my search I've come across numerous papers and articles about  
> how this recovery concept is not possible. So, it may have been a  
> figment of my imagination, a hoax, or misleading news reporting.
>
> In any case, I really only need to hear from those of you who know  
> the location of this specific article rather than rebutals to the  
> possibility of the topic.
>
> I appreciate any assistance provided.
> - James Michael Stewart