R&D: Data Recovery in Case of Fire-Damaged HDDs and SSDs

Forensic Science International: Reports has published an article written by Denis Solodov, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Department of Criminology and Criminalistics, Warszawska 98, 10-702 Olsztyn, Poland, and Ilia Solodov, Voronezh Bar Association, Russian Federation.

Abstract: “During a building fire and the subsequent firefighting operation, delicate internals of personal computers may be exposed to a variety of destructive factors, thereby increasing the risk of data loss. So far, there have been only a limited number of studies concerning the problem of data recovery from physically damaged Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and Solid-State Drives (SSDs). It may be expected that memory chips installed inside a modern Solid-State Drive are less prone to vibrations and falls compared to the internals of a Hard Disk Drive. However, as this study shows, this is not always the case: the memory modules of a Solid-State Drive could be damaged when the drive is exposed to extremely high temperatures. There are many myths and misconceptions concerning data recovery in the case of physically damaged drives. Police first responders often discard badly damaged Hard Disk Drives based solely on their external appearance. While it may be true in some cases, it is nothing more than an incorrect general assumption. The internal design of modern Hard Disk Drives can prevent or reduce the risk of data loss even in the extreme circumstances accompanying a fire-fighting operation. Besides, there are often other contributing factors, which prevent data loss, such as a laptop screen and keyboard creating additional layers of protection. In this article, we describe the case of data recovery from Hard Disk Drives and Solid-State Drives of different manufactures and models with fire-related damage. A detailed account of all operations was included to provide necessary guidance.“