Finding the data
Before parsing the data, we have to find it. In addition to classical storage media (hard drives, Solid State Drive (SSDs), onboard USB storage, and more), embedded systems use more specific chips and systems to store data, and some of them are listed as follows:
- EEPROMs
- EMMC and NAND/NOR Flash
- Static RAM, and so on...
Let's look at each of them in the following sections.
EEPROMs
EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) and flash memory are "one-chip" storage solutions that keep the data even when the power is off. They are available on pretty much every existing protocol (I2C, (Q)SPI, 1-Wire, and more). Locating these chips is not always easy (especially if they are unmarked or rebranded) but (as already discussed in the component identification section in the previous chapter), it is possible to identify them by elimination or by sniffing the protocol on the board. Typically, the storage capacity is...