Solid State Drive (SSD) Forensics - Revision history

Belkasoft: /* Bibliography */ added recent article on SSD forensics.

2013-03-28T13:59:59Z

‎Bibliography: added recent article on SSD forensics.

2011-08-15T23:55:23Z

‎Presentations

2011-05-23T12:46:45Z

2011-04-12T09:51:19Z

2011-04-12T09:18:17Z

2011-03-23T06:25:42Z

2011-03-22T19:42:21Z

‎Presentations

2011-03-22T19:41:43Z

‎Presentations

2011-03-22T19:23:56Z

‎Bibliography

2011-03-22T19:23:07Z

‎Bibliography

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 ==Bibliography==
 <bibtex>
 @inproceedings{wei2011,

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 ==Presentations==
 * [http://www.snia.org/events/storage-developer2009/presentations/thursday/NealChristiansen_ATA_TrimDeleteNotification_Windows7.pdf ATA Trim / Delete Notification Support in Windows 7], Neal Christiansen, Storage Developer 2009
 * [http://www.slideshare.net/digitalassembly/challenges-of-ssd-forensic-analysis Challenges of SSD Forensic Analysis], Digital Assembly,

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:46, 23 May 2011
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	The controller in a flash SSD is significantly more complex in the number of tasks it has to perform in comparison to a magnetic rotating drive, with the following features:		The controller in a flash SSD is significantly more complex in the number of tasks it has to perform in comparison to a magnetic rotating drive, with the following features:
	# ''wear leveling'' – that is, spreading the writes to flash out among different sectors. Wear leveling is typically done with a ''flash translation layer'' that maps ''logical sectors'' (or LBAs) to ''physical pages''. Most FTLs are contained within the SSD device and are not accessible to end users.		# ''wear leveling'' – that is, spreading the writes to flash out among different sectors. Wear leveling is typically done with a ''flash translation layer'' that maps ''logical sectors'' (or LBAs) to ''physical pages''. Most FTLs are contained within the SSD device and are not accessible to end users.
		+	# ''read/modify/relocate+write'' - if the controller allows rewriting of a partial flash page, it must read the entire page, modify the sector that is being written, and write the new flash page in a new/fresh location which has been previously erased. the old pre-modification data's page is then queued for erase.
		+

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 Most SSD devices are based on flash memory; some have battery backed SRAM or DRAM with a flash backing store.
-Flash has a number of key properties that complicate its use in computer storage systems:
+Flash has a number of key properties that complicate its use in computer storage systems and subsequent forensic analysis:
-# Internally, flash memory is not divided into the traditional 512 byte blocks, but instead is in pages of 2KiB, 4KiB, or larger.
+# Internally, flash memory is not divided into the traditional 512 byte blocks, but instead is in pages of 2KiB, 4KiB, or larger, although it is still presented to the host computer in blocks
-# Whilst hard drives that can be written in a single pass, flash memory pages must be erased (in whole) before they can be rewritten.
+# Whilst hard drives can be written in a single pass, flash memory pages must be erased (in whole) before they can be rewritten.
 # Each page can be erased and rewritten a limited number of times – typically 1000 to 10,000. (Hard drive sectors, in contrast, can be rewritten millions of times or more.)
 ==Bibliography==

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-Solid State Drives pose a variety of interesting challenges for computer forensics. Most SSD devices are based on flash memory. Flash has two properties that complicate its use in computer storage systems:
+Solid State Drives pose a variety of interesting challenges for computer forensics in comparison with traditional rotating magnetic platter hard drives.
-# Unlike normal hard drives that can be written in a single pass, flash memory is arranged in pages that must first be erased before it can be written.
-# Each flash page consists of multiple blocks. Typically block size is 512 bytes and page size is 2KiB, 4KiB, or larger.
+Most SSD devices are based on flash memory; some have battery backed SRAM or DRAM with a flash backing store.
 # Each page can be erased and rewritten a limited number of times – typically 1000 to 10,000. (Hard drive sectors, in contrast, can be rewritten millions of times or more.)

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 ==Presentations==
 * [http://www.snia.org/events/storage-developer2009/presentations/thursday/NealChristiansen_ATA_TrimDeleteNotification_Windows7.pdf ATA Trim / Delete Notification Support in Windows 7], Neal Christiansen, Storage Developer 2009
-* Challenges of SSD Forensic Analysis, Digital Assembly, http://www.slideshare.net/digitalassembly/challenges-of-ssd-forensic-analysis
+* [http://www.slideshare.net/digitalassembly/challenges-of-ssd-forensic-analysis Challenges of SSD Forensic Analysis], Digital Assembly,
-* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcO7xn0wJ2I ]Solid State Drives: Ruining Forensics, by Scott Moulton, DEFCON 16 (2008)
+* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcO7xn0wJ2I Solid State Drives: Ruining Forensics], by Scott Moulton, DEFCON 16 (2008)
 * Scott Moulton, Shmoocon 20008,  SSD drives vs. Hard Drives.
 ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4hbdZFWGog SSD Flash Hard Drives - Shmoocon 2008 - Part 1]

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    url="http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA509258"
+}
 </bibtex>

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   keywords = {cell phone, computer forensics, file carving, flash-memory dumps, forensics},
+}
 </bibtex>