1st International ICST Conference on Forensic Applications and Techniques in Telecommunications, Information and Multimedia

Research Article

Recovering data from USB Flash memory sticks that have been damaged or electronically erased

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/e-forensics.2008.2771,
        author={B. J. Phillips and C. D. Schmidt and D. R.  Kelly},
        title={Recovering data from USB Flash memory sticks that have been damaged or electronically erased},
        proceedings={1st International ICST Conference on Forensic Applications and Techniques in Telecommunications, Information and Multimedia},
        publisher={ACM},
        proceedings_a={E-FORENSICS},
        year={2010},
        month={5},
        keywords={Data recovery semiconductor data remanence Flash memory},
        doi={10.4108/e-forensics.2008.2771}
    }
    
  • B. J. Phillips
    C. D. Schmidt
    D. R. Kelly
    Year: 2010
    Recovering data from USB Flash memory sticks that have been damaged or electronically erased
    E-FORENSICS
    ACM
    DOI: 10.4108/e-forensics.2008.2771
B. J. Phillips1, C. D. Schmidt1, D. R. Kelly1
  • 1: CHiPTec, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.

Abstract

In this paper we consider recovering data from USB Flash memory sticks after they have been damaged or electronically erased. We describe the physical structure and theory of operation of Flash memories; review the literature of Flash memory data recovery; and report results of new experiments in which we damage USB Flash memory sticks and attempt to recover their contents. The experiments include smashing and shooting memory sticks, incinerating them in petrol and cooking them in a microwave oven.