Hash of a Cloned Dr...
 
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Hash of a Cloned Drive

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(@atothepower4)
Posts: 1
New Member
Topic starter
 

Is the hash of a cloned drive and the original drive same or different considering that they have same make, model, capacity? (Drive can be Pendrive, HDD, SSD or any storage media)

 
Posted : 22/07/2021 5:06 pm
Passmark
(@passmark)
Posts: 376
Reputable Member
 

If it was a real clone (i.e all partitions and all unpartitioned space were copied) and drive sizes are exactly identical, then yes, hash should be the same.

 
Posted : 22/07/2021 11:47 pm
(@mscotgrove)
Posts: 938
Prominent Member
 

If a single bit is different between the original disk and the clone, the hash will be different.  It is there essential that the clone drive only every accessed with a write blocker.  

If a drive is mounted, the operating system might well change a date or a flag somewhere, and hence kill any hash value.

 

The make model, capacity is not relevant.  The only important factor is the length of the data being hashed.  Thus you could clone a 1TB drive to a 2TB drive.  As long as you then only hashed the 1TB partition it would be the same.  If you tried to hash the 2TB drive, then obviously the hash will be different.

 
Posted : 24/07/2021 3:08 pm
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