Possibly a daft newbie question… Does putting a hard drive in an external caddy affect the data? Can you then use a USB write blocker with an external hard drive caddy and preserve everything? Thanks
The caddy just lets you read (and write) sectors.
It will not (if working correctly) change any data. A write block will make sure that nothing is written to the drive.
Thanks - I thought that was the case, but wanted to make sure.
A caddy will not change data - BUT connecting any drive to a PC can affect data.
Windows can make small changes to maybe system files, temp files etc, and a virus checker might run. A defrag procedure might be run automatically
If you are doing a forensic examination, a write blocker should always be used
Thanks Michael,
My main concern was whether a USB type write blocker and an external hard drive caddy would be enough to preserve the data.
For example, using a WiebeTech USB WriteBlocker as opposed to a WiebeTech Forensic UltraDock v5.
Thanks,
Kevin
The device should still list as a valid disk in Windows (do not quote me on that), USB is merely the connector instead of SATA or IDE.
And yes, It works fine. I've had problems with a blocker and certain disks not being recognised, so i imaged them that way instead.