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Explanation wanted: Can you really delete everything from a server?
one man's opinion.....

Posted on 03/09/2015 3:54:47 PM PDT by ken5050

I know there are a great many highly tech savvy FReepers out there. I'm a Luddite...turn it on, turn it off, that's it....but I'm puzzled about one aspect of the story about Hillary's server..everything I've read says she can delete anything and everything she wants..and we may never know what was there. I always thought that it's out there somewhere, and can be recovered..though with difficulty..


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
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If someone could kindly explain..without getting too technical why that's not so. Also, if it is true, that stuff can be gone forever.. can examination of the server determine that a lot of stuff was wiped out?

Thanks...

1 posted on 03/09/2015 3:54:47 PM PDT by ken5050
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To: ken5050

Yes, unless the physical disk was destroyed. EMP could ruin it too.

What is commonly deletion is really the computer temporarily making the data inaccessible, and allowed to essentially record over the original data.


2 posted on 03/09/2015 3:57:13 PM PDT by Shadow44
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To: ken5050

It seems pretty obvious that you just hit the server HD with a hammer and poof!


3 posted on 03/09/2015 3:57:37 PM PDT by zeebee
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To: ken5050

Need to destroy drives and backup.


4 posted on 03/09/2015 3:57:43 PM PDT by Raycpa
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To: ken5050

if stuff is written over....the data thats being “deleted” then its gone.

if one merely “deletes” data”...it;s simply not listed in any directories ..as I understand it.


5 posted on 03/09/2015 3:57:54 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: ken5050

If she had her own server, it is just like your own pc, you can certainly delete unwanted items off of it.


6 posted on 03/09/2015 3:58:16 PM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: ken5050

Unless it has been physically destroyed, programs such as EnCase can be used to find what has been deleted.


7 posted on 03/09/2015 4:00:20 PM PDT by South40 (Hillary Clinton was a "great secretary of state". - Texas Governor Rick Perry)
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To: ken5050

Unless the disc is torched, you can reformat the data.


8 posted on 03/09/2015 4:00:26 PM PDT by realcleanguy
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To: DonaldC

On a computer thee is always the hard drive. What about a server?


9 posted on 03/09/2015 4:00:41 PM PDT by hoosiermama (Obama: "Born in Kenya" Lying now or then or nowVery lroblamatic)
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To: ken5050

As with most things computer-related, it depends.

In general, certainly you could wipe out the data drives of a server (I assume you mean something like a mail or hosting server) but there are multiple ways to get the data back:

1) Easy — any server hosting anyone will have frequent backups (if not continuous on a separate physically distant “mirror” site). It is not that expensive and can setup when the server is deployed.

2) Assuming the server is not using some sort of back up (shame on the server owner/admins!), data recovery companies can restore pretty much anything even if logically “erased.”

The only way to be 100% sure the data are not on a drive is to physically remove it and grind it with a grinding wheel.

Is this related to hitelry’s lost emails?


10 posted on 03/09/2015 4:02:11 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (islam: The hands of the Chinese, the mouths of the arabs, the minds of the French.)
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To: hoosiermama

>>On a computer thee is always the hard drive. What about a server?<<

Yes — any computer bigger than a tablet need disk storage.

Server are generally pretty large.


11 posted on 03/09/2015 4:03:39 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (islam: The hands of the Chinese, the mouths of the arabs, the minds of the French.)
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To: ken5050

Short answer: yes.

The longer answer can be as complicated as you want (but I figure you don’t want all the details). Servers that are part of the government are routinely backed up and nothing much gets deleted without several people confirming “do delete”.

Since the hildebeast’s email sat on her own personal server she was the authority figure for what got retained and what got deleted. She probably delegated that duty to someone else so that she would have “plausible deniability”.


12 posted on 03/09/2015 4:03:44 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: ken5050

The short answer is yes, so long as the email was never mailed. Once you click send it’s not just on your server anymore.

It can also be encrypted in such a way that it can not be read. Many people say this is not so, but it is...


13 posted on 03/09/2015 4:03:48 PM PDT by babygene
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To: ken5050

There is a utility called fileshredder that doesn’t just remove it from the master file table, it does a bitwise overwrite on the drive with garbage.

So yes - things can be permanently deleted with relative ease.


14 posted on 03/09/2015 4:05:01 PM PDT by bolobaby
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To: hoosiermama
What about a server?

A "Server" is nothing special - it's just a (high end) computer.
But it has "Server" software installed and uses a "Server" operating system, and it will generally be outfitted with a LOT of hard drive storage.

The mechanics of overwriting the drives to destroy data is no different from that used on a desktop machine.

15 posted on 03/09/2015 4:05:50 PM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: ken5050
If all else fails:

There's always the hard-drive shredder.

16 posted on 03/09/2015 4:07:06 PM PDT by PLMerite (Shut the Beyotch Down! Burn, baby, burn!)
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To: ken5050

Even if you torch your hard drive and stop paying your iCloud/Carbonite/Dropbox bills, you can always count on NSA to have your back as they log all your keystrokes.


17 posted on 03/09/2015 4:07:09 PM PDT by sagar
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To: grobdriver

Thanks. I wasn’t that far off in my mind.


18 posted on 03/09/2015 4:07:16 PM PDT by hoosiermama (Obama: "Born in Kenya" Lying now or then or nowVery lroblamatic)
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To: DonaldC

I’m not an IT expert, but it seems to me if we’re talking emails then the it might be possible to doctor the contents that are stored on the server, but the very nature of email means that it was transmitted from or to other computers and there is going to be an electronic trail left along the way.


19 posted on 03/09/2015 4:07:53 PM PDT by bitterohiogunclinger (Proudly casting a heavy carbon footprint as I clean my guns ---)
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To: ken5050

bfl


20 posted on 03/09/2015 4:08:00 PM PDT by gibsosa
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