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I am unclear on something and i knew i could count on the good people at antionline to clarify this for me. I have heard different things about how long it takes to clear your ram. Some say as soon as you turn your computer off it is cleared. I've also heard that you have to wait a certain amount of time before it clears. Anyone know as a fact what it takes to clear your ram?
Thx for the help.
Your computer doesn't "erase" your ram, it's like when you pull the plug, the power is gone. When you turn of your computer, the data in your ram is gone. Prolly few millisecs or something.
Actually, your RAM is not "cleared" it is simply "made available". When your computer is running and this does not happen properly it is known as a "memory leak".
When you power down, all RAM is made available for the next session. The data remains however and can theoretically be retrieved using the right tools.
This would generally only have significance to the intelligence and defence communities.....when you de-comission a computer you destry the RAM as well as the hard drives :cool:
Cheers
kool, thx for clearing that up guys.
Are you sure nihil? I always tought that RAM need to be refresh with electriticy to keep their bits information (On or Off) so that technially, if their no power, they all turn to off?
I thought the same. The board always has power though, unless you take out the battery.Quote:
Originally posted here by SDK
Are you sure nihil? I always tought that RAM need to be refresh with electriticy to keep their bits information (On or Off) so that technially, if their no power, they all turn to off?
Hi Folks,
The concept of recovering data from RAM is based on "residual memory" of the medium (the actual RAM strips), so we are into the realms of electron tunneling scanning microscopy.
www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/
I hope the link is up. It is Peter Gutmann's site and he goes into this kind of stuff way over my head (not difficult :) )
I guess you will have heard of the "Gutmann method" of secure deletion? the guy is a guru when it comes to these kind of security issues.
I guess it is not too far fetched, as I can remember the old IBM 5256 dumb terminals that had been used for order entry, invoice posting and such in the Finance Department. In the right light you could read the permanent header texts that had been burned into the screen by the electron guns in the CRT.
Cheers
EDIT: Just checked the link and it is working now. CXGJ I am sure you will find the site interesting..............he describes himself as a "professional paranoid"..........taught me almost all I know :D
Love his title
Peter Gutmann
Professional Paranoid
Nice Article!