How Long computers retain information

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polosport6699
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How Long computers retain information

Post by polosport6699 »

I was wondering kinda off topic, If anyone knows how long computers retain data, and what is the extent of how much they remember. Can people access webpages that have been accessed through the computers from months ago? My pal is in some trouble, and this information would be quite helpful
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daven
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Post by daven »

Theoretically, a computer can retain data indefinitely.

A web browser's history (the list of pages it has accessed) is set by the user, with a default of about 9-20 days (depending upon the browser).
The browser's cache retains local copies of downloaded files. The default is usually a couple hundred MB.

So unless your friend has altered the history limit and cache size greatly, it is highly unlikely that there will be any record on his computer of his websurfing from months ago.

Conversely, most servers log data about who has visited the site. So if you ask REALLY nicely, and the SysAdmin is feeling generous, he/she might be able to help you if the data still exists.
Warning: I am a SysAdmin, and I would probably laugh at someone if they asked me to delve through my logs to see if they accessed my page months ago.

Cheers
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phice
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Post by phice »

Well, I read an article somewhere (who hasn't heard that quote somewhere? :D) that the data on the harddrives stays several thousands of years, not indefinitely.

If you can prove me wrong, please do so. I don't like giving false information. ;)
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qartis
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Post by qartis »

Depends on your definition of "gone". Many OSes, windows especially, want to speed up the interface by not deleting files, but deleting all references to them, and overwriting their data with a new file when they need to. When the file's attributes are taken out of the hard drive's file access table, they can't be accessed by a "regular user", so they *are* 'deleted', but even a simple VB program could retreive the full file, if it has been deleted recently enough to have not been overwritten. Of course, if your buddy is in *real* trouble, the FBI can retreive data that has been overwritten up to 7 times, but not completely, and it takes a lot of time and a lot of money.
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