Are you saying the databases were NOT deleted? The data would not need to be recovered if it had NOT been deleted. Maricopa County was destroying evidence—proves they are as guilty as hell!!
Go back and read the article. He was partially quoted, which gave the impression that he said the database had NOT been deleted…but what he actually said was that he had gotten the data from other sources because it HAD been deleted.
He recovered it with FORENSIC RECOVERY METHODS!
It was effing DELETED!
There is a database and a database “directory” (think index or catalogue). What was deleted was that directory. Using that directory would be the normal way to see the files in the database. Since the directory was deleted, the database files were initially not seen. Using means outside of the database system itself, the auditors were able to find the physical address of the database files and recover them.
BUT, what Maricopa county should have to answer for is how in the hell the database directory got deleted.