Mac OS X forum: Check who has used external hard drive?

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Clarification request: Clarification

by GiantDeskLamp - 4/2/12 6:48 AM

In Reply to: Check who has used external hard drive? by GiantDeskLamp

Yes, in the future I will be more careful. However what happened is my external hard drive fell and broke - I threw it away because I already had the data I needed backed up on my computer. I was wondering if I could check -my- computer for any data/file that would tell where the hard drive connected in the past had also been connected to. ie. would their computers have left some sort of "stamp" or something that would have been left over on my computer after I last connected the hard drive to mine? I'm running Lion and the other people would probably have been on Snow Leopard.

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Still no

by Jimmy Greystone - 4/2/12 10:06 AM

In Reply to: Clarification by GiantDeskLamp

Still no. The only thing you could really tell is the last accessed time of files, not really who accessed them or anything like that. The filesystem only stores so much metadata, and that just isn't part of what it does store.

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No.

by R. Proffitt - 4/2/12 10:23 AM

In Reply to: Clarification by GiantDeskLamp

Nothing is in any external HDD that would detect that.

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Final question

by GiantDeskLamp - 4/2/12 12:43 PM

In Reply to: No. by R. Proffitt

So there's absolutely nothing I can do about this? There's no way I can find out if anyone used my hard drive?

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Bond, James Bond.

by R. Proffitt - 4/2/12 12:58 PM

In Reply to: Final question by GiantDeskLamp

Since nothing is written to the HDD you have to use old school spy tricks to detect the HDD was moved. It's very simple. I've used this myself for years.

It's just a piece of tape that is usually un-noticed when the drive is moved. Then I know something has happened.
Bob

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Hard drive

by GiantDeskLamp - 4/3/12 7:10 AM

In Reply to: Bond, James Bond. by R. Proffitt

That's a good idea for the future. Sorry for being so clingy, I'm very thankful you guys are helping! However I'm just wondering if anything could at this point be done to find out about the hard drive that may have been used in the past.

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Now that we know it is possible to access it without change.

by R. Proffitt - 4/3/12 9:25 AM

In Reply to: Hard drive by GiantDeskLamp

Let's say they are not so smart and the access dates do change.

Why don't you sort your files by ACCESS DATE and see if there are entries you can't explain?

Be sure to compensate for date/time clock changes. One person lost a month while they figured out the date/time on the media was in GMT and not local. I can't explain why it took that long.
Bob

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by GiantDeskLamp - 4/3/12 9:47 AM

In Reply to: Now that we know it is possible to access it without change. by R. Proffitt

But the problem is the hard drive with the files broke and is now gone...so if someone used my hard drive, and then I plugged it into mine before it broke, would there be any information on my laptop that would tell where else that past connected drive had been?

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by GiantDeskLamp - 4/3/12 9:49 AM

In Reply to: Reply by GiantDeskLamp

^^(By "plugged it into mine" I mean plugged it into my laptop)

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This was not told in your first post.

by R. Proffitt - 4/3/12 9:51 AM

In Reply to: Reply by GiantDeskLamp

Now that you have a new question, and a new problem far beyond that of your opening question then you need to start a new discussion.
Bob

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by GiantDeskLamp - 4/3/12 10:18 AM

In Reply to: This was not told in your first post. by R. Proffitt

I posted a new one at http://forums.cnet.com/7723-7588_102-559934/check-who-has-used-hard-drive

Sorry I should have mentioned the HDD being broken in the opening post.

Thanks!

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Answers

Answer Best answer as chosen by user GiantDeskLamp

by Jimmy Greystone - 4/2/12 6:36 AM

In Reply to: Check who has used external hard drive? by GiantDeskLamp

No, not without some kind of specific logging program designed for this sort of thing. Otherwise, the best you could probably do is get the time of last access for the drive.

However, since it's an external drive, and you clearly have privacy concerns, why not just take it with you when you get up from the computer? Even if there were a way to tell if people were going through it, by the time you figure that out it's too late, they've already gone through it. Whatever it is you would rather others not see, has already been seen, and it's not like you can go and selectively erase those memories from the person's mind... And hope no one ever creates such technology, because imagine what the entertainment industry would do with it, but I digress.

The most expedient option here seems to just take the drive with you. Or if that's not possible for whatever reason, just put the sensitive files onto a separate flash drive or something that you can take with you more readily. So whatever is left on the external HDD is stuff you don't care if others see or not.

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