Agent Appleton attempted to revive Rocky’s computer several times to no avail. He had no idea why the computer wasn’t rebooting. He reached for his phone and dialed.

“I thought you’d be contacting me again,” Mr. Henry said.

“Are you around tonight?”

“I have a class at the store from six to eight. After that, I’m free.”

“See you soon.”

----------------------------------------

Agent Appleton waited until the remaining students filed out before entering. Mr. Henry was sitting behind the counter, reading the newspaper.

“Let me guess, you accessed that computer but still need help?” Mr. Henry said.

Agent Appleton placed the computer on the counter and gave a brief explanation of the problem. Mr. Henry looked concerned; he flipped the Wi-Fi switch on the side of the computer as a precaution.

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“I’m afraid the hard drive inside the computer has been wiped.”

“Can’t you get the information back?”

“Depending on the storage medium, we might be able to get some fragments.”

“What do you mean?”

“I suspect that a computer virus wiped out the computer. Based on your timeline, the hard drive was probably formatted in secure mode at least once. As the hard drive is formatted, each file is shredded; it often takes several passes before the data is unrecoverable.”

Agent Appleton felt relieved. At least he had a chance to set things straight.

“I need to get this checked back into inventory tomorrow. Is that enough time?” Agent Appleton asked.

“Only if we work all night!”

“What can I do to help?”

“I think you helped enough, but you can wait here.”

Mr. Henry left the room with the computer. I’m racking up quite a few favors, Agent Appleton thought.

Several hours later, Mr. Henry came out with a grim look on his face.

“The good news is that the hard drive was small, so I was able to create a ‘bit’ image. The bad news is that the drive is based on solid state technology.”

“Why is that bad?” Agent Appleton asked.

Mr. Henry gave Agent Appleton a stern look.

“Unlike a traditional hard disk, solid state technology has built-in cleanup mechanisms. When something like a file is deleted, the drive will need to erase it before storing anything else.”

“How much data can you retrieve from the drive? Can you get it to boot?” Agent Appleton had some technical training, but he really didn’t have a head for all of the jargon.

“I was able to restore much of the basic file structure, but the boot areas are unrecoverable.”