| Recovering Data from Flash Memory |
|
|
| Written by Laptop News | |
| Sunday, 05 February 2006 | |
|
The amount and importance of data which is stored on flash memory increases every day. With the price-per-gigabyte dropping it USB flash drives as well as memory cards (CF, SD, xD, etc.) have become a great way to store and transport large amounts of data. With an increased reliance on flash storage, the recovery of data from flash drives has become an important topic as well.
Flash drives are a very specialized piece of equipment but once you understand a few basics, they are a lot less mysterious. Flash drives use the FAT file system- USB memory keys generally use FAT-32 while memory cards (like those in a PDA or camera) use FAT-16. Almost all operating systems are compatible with the FAT file structure which is the reason why flash drives are almost univerisally compatible. Because they use FAT, all flash storage products have to use Master Boot Record, Boot Sector, and File Allocation Table (which exists in duplicate). These tables are composed of a list the files on the device, as well as a number of details, like their size and where they exist on the memory. Any damage to the table can make the data on the drive practically useless, which is why two exact copies of the drive exist.
Direct Link:
|