Defining forensic imaging

I continue to stress that we never want to change the source device/digital evidence. That is why we never conduct a digital forensic examination on the original device. You should only conduct your digital forensic analysis on a copy, not the original device. You must remember the forensic copy you make will also be considered the evidence and will have the same evidentiary weight as the source device in terms of evidence. What are we transferring from the source device into our forensic copy? Everything! I want to look at allocated files, deleted files, slack space, unallocated space, and unpartitioned space. I want to collect every bit on the source device. Earlier in this book, in Chapter 2, The Forensic Analysis Process, I gave you the following definitions:

• Forensic copy: This is a straight bit-for-bit copy of the source to the destination. This is not common in today’s environment, so ensure that your destination device has no old...