{"id":1673,"date":"2017-04-26T16:40:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T14:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.atola.com\/?p=1673"},"modified":"2026-05-06T07:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T05:26:09","slug":"calculating-hash-during-imaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/calculating-hash-during-imaging\/","title":{"rendered":"Calculating Hash During Imaging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atola Insight Forensic supports hash calculation of both source and target devices in conjunction with imaging. We have developed highly flexible functionality to help optimize evidence acquisition process to fit one\u2019s internal procedures as well as avoid causing further damage to fragile media.<\/p>\n<p>To view the hashing options:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Go to <em>Imaging<\/em> category of the left-side menu and click on <em>Create New Session<\/em> link<\/li>\n<li>Select the target device or file<\/li>\n<li>In <em>Preset<\/em> line click on the <em>Show settings<\/em> link<\/li>\n<li>In the upper part of the <em>Passes and Hash<\/em> tab there are three checkboxes:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Pre-hash source device<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Hash source during imaging<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Post-hash target device(s)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1674\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.atola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"885\" height=\"983\" srcset=\"https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options.png 885w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options-135x150.png 135w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options-270x300.png 270w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options-768x853.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 885px) 100vw, 885px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Multiselect is available, which allows an operator to use all three of these options.<\/p>\n<p>However,<em> Pre-hash source drive<\/em> option must be used with caution: although pre-hashing can be required by an investigator\u2019s internal procedures, when dealing with drives that have been diagnosed with hardware failure, this operation may cause further damage to the drive before essential data is imaged.<\/p>\n<p>On the contrary, <em>Hash source during imaging<\/em> is the most appropriate way to calculate the hash of a fragile source evidence drive. In this case, Insight only needs to read the data on the drive once to both image and calculate the hash, thus minimally using the drive\u2019s hardware.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NB<\/strong>\u00a0Linear hash can only be calculated by reading data in sectors consecutively in one pass. Therefore ticking <em>Hash source during imaging<\/em> checkbox and selecting <em>Linear<\/em> or combined <em>Linear and Segmented<\/em> option in <em>Hashing method<\/em> drop-down menu leads the number of passes to be limited to one. When dealing with a damaged drive, we strongly recommend using Segmented hashing, as this method supports multi-pass imaging and handling of bad sectors and provides better resiliency against data corruption. For more details please follow this link: <a href=\"https:\/\/atola.com\/products\/insight\/segmented-hashing.html\">Segmented hashing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em> Post-hash target device(s)<\/em> option allows to properly record the calculated hash in the case. Since this operation does not require reading the source drive,\u00a0it is safe to use this option while imaging either good or damaged drives.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1679\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.atola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash-1024x674.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash-1024x674.png 1024w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash-150x99.png 150w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash-300x197.png 300w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash-768x506.png 768w, https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/damaged-drive-hash-post-hash.png 1317w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atola Insight Forensic supports hash calculation of both source and target devices in conjunction with imaging. We have developed highly flexible functionality to help optimize evidence acquisition process to fit one\u2019s internal procedures as well as avoid causing further damage to fragile media. To view the hashing options: Go to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Calculating Hash During Imaging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atola Insight Forensic includes hashing module that supports both source and target devices in conjunction with imaging to assist forensic investigators in recovering damaged media.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/calculating-hash-during-imaging\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Calculating Hash During Imaging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atola Insight Forensic includes hashing module that supports both source and target devices in conjunction with imaging to assist forensic investigators in recovering damaged media.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/atola.com\/blog\/calculating-hash-during-imaging\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AtolaTechnology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-26T14:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T05:26:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.atola.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hashing-options.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yulia Samoteykina\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@atola_insight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" 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