As the image wrote to an evidence drive, the ran in the background. It carved for known file signatures (JPEGs, PDFs, ZIPs) and performed a quick Entropy Test to identify encrypted or compressed data. The log showed a red flag: an 80 GB block of high entropy—likely a VeraCrypt container.
Sarah smiled grimly. The "disk cleaner" was a myth. EnCase 7.09 didn't just see files; it saw the residual magnetic traces . It showed her the $MFT (Master File Table) entries marked as 0x00 (deleted) but whose data runs still pointed to clusters containing the SQL transaction logs.
Today’s case was State v. Morrison , a financial fraud investigation involving a destroyed laptop. The suspect had attempted a "factory reset" on a high-end Dell Precision—an x64 machine running Windows 10 Enterprise. But Sarah knew that a reset was not a wipe.
Sarah stood up. "Your Honor, this specific build—7.09.00.111—is the last version released under Guidance Software before the acquisition by OpenText. It has been cited as reliable in Daubert hearings over 400 times. It is an x64-native application that handles modern NVMe drives, exFAT partitions, and 4K sector drives without error. Age is not instability. Familiarity is accuracy."
Two hours later, the acquisition was complete. Sarah opened the case file and navigated to the of unallocated space. This was where EnCase 7.09 excelled. Its file signature analysis wasn't just based on extensions; it looked at internal headers (hex values like FF D8 FF for JPEGs). The suspect had changed a spreadsheet's extension from .xlsx to .dll , but EnCase’s View File Structure pane showed the Compound File Binary header instantly. "OLE," Sarah muttered. "You’re hiding accounting data inside a system file."
She double-clicked the icon: .
She used the function—a built-in, C-like scripting language unique to EnCase. A custom script she wrote in 2018, called Find-Offset-By-Date , quickly isolated all files last accessed within one hour of the suspect’s termination date.
In the courtroom six months later, the defense attorney challenged the methodology. "Isn't this software ancient, Detective? Version 7?"