Blast From The Past

[T3X4S]

A little back story - 

The law firm that used to represent my family hired me to do some "clandestine data recovery" (read into that what you will)
They overnight 2 laptops that they need data pulled off of... 
OK - no prob, I'll give it a shot. (I'm going to bill the hell out of them regardless)

They sent the 1st laptop today:

 

I dont know why they asked me - and Im not going to ask - but when I opened the box - wow!

An IBM ThinkPad x30- that booted up like a champ.

They dont build them like this anymore.
 

 

[Xahid]

I believe that's confidential information, you're posting online

[DevTech]

Pentium M, the CPU that spawned Core to Core2 to i-Series. Re-pave that with Win 10 or Linux and it is still useful for a lot of scenarios including Smart Mirror.

 

Hope you get to keep it...

 

[xendrome]

The fact that you booted up the OS on a system that needs data-recovery proves you do not how to properly recover data.

 

First thing you should have done was a sector-by-sector image backup of the drive from a PE boot environment . Now you have potentially over-written data flagged in the NTFS/FAT tables as ready to use.

[T3X4S]

8 hours ago, DevTech said:

Pentium M, the CPU that spawned Core to Core2 to i-Series. Re-pave that with Win 10 or Linux and it is still useful for a lot of scenarios including Smart Mirror.

 

Hope you get to keep it...

 

No - it all goes back.

----

But man is this thing heavy with this thick base attached.

7 hours ago, xendrome said:

The fact that you booted up the OS on a system that needs data-recovery proves you do not how to properly recover data.

 

First thing you should have done was a sector-by-sector image backup of the drive from a PE boot environment . Now you have potentially over-written data flagged in the NTFS/FAT tables as ready to use.

To be honest - if it was a true forensics pull, you're right - Windows would never have come into the picture.

The person who sent it to me acted as if it was some Edward Snowden deep sectret Area 51 crap (he's a little .... off)

My post was intended to be tongue in cheek "read into that what you will" was meant as a joke.

If it was really secretive - they have the resources to do it proper, and would have sent it to a forensics data recovery company - not me.

I have forensics software (dont really know how to use it that well)  but he simply needed a password bypassed, and the data sent to him.

(technically, I never said it had to be recovered... I said "pulled off")  and my clandestine comment was more about the way he presented this whole thing to me.

I meant to follow up the OP, andexplain the backstory, but started watching Stranger Things 2 - and that is more important.





 

[jnelsoninjax]

Yes, but will it play (fill in the blank)

[T3X4S]

6 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Yes, but will it play (fill in the blank)

Now that I have pulled the data from it the owner needed, I have been playing around with it (couldnt help but clean it up to get it to run better)  - so many things with XP I have forgotten about, like
When you empty the Recycle Bin, the little piece of paper that moves across and disappears
All of the little tweaks I always did after a clean OS install :
Large Fonts
True Type Fonts
Disable the sliding notification bar
GPedit.msc to disable WIndows Messenger (that was a big one)
All of the stuff so many websites used to say "Top 10 things to improve performance of WIndows XP" started coming back to me.. good times, good times. 

[jnelsoninjax]

XP was a good stable (mostly) OS, then they did win2K and then ME(mistake!) I remember fondly how much fun I had with those older OS's!

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

6 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

XP was a good stable (mostly) OS, then they did win2K and then ME(mistake!) I remember fondly how much fun I had with those older OS's!

XP came after Win2K and ME....

[jnelsoninjax]

Just now, Mindovermaster said:

XP came after Win2K and ME....

I know, I was not listing them in order, I was simply 'living in the past' I should have said and they did, not then the did, I think I need sleep!

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

59 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I know, I was not listing them in order, I was simply 'living in the past' I should have said and they did, not then the did, I think I need sleep!

Oh, OK. Yeah, we all need sleep...

[Circaflex]

Good one @T3X4S, I too recently had someone ask for data to be pulled from a computer that was very old. Afterwards I ripped this bad boy out of it

 

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

I'm guessing one of the attorneys at the firm just wanted old data recovered from a personal laptop? 

 

If any of the files on the ThinkPad X30 are meant to be used for evidentiary purposes, they are now tainted because they were not accessed in a forensically-sound way, and cannot be used as evidence.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[T3X4S]

2 hours ago, goretsky said:

Hello,

 

I'm guessing one of the attorneys at the firm just wanted old data recovered from a personal laptop? 

 

If any of the files on the ThinkPad X30 are meant to be used for evidentiary purposes, they are now tainted because they were not accessed in a forensically-sound way, and cannot be used as evidence.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

Yes - this was not tied to a case.

After the initial discussion, he was very clandestine about it - no emails, insisted on only voice (something about "trails in the sand")  I had never talked to this attorney before, so I wasnt sure.

Then after I got the laptop, and talked to him again - I realized it was nothing - he is just a little ...weird. 

As I mentioned previously, if they needed something done for a case, they would have used a company who specializes in these things - not me.

However, I didnt know if this was something they wanted off a computer from an ex-employee and wanted to be hush hush, had no idea.

But in reality, it was just get past the Windows password, and pull data - it was nothing.

17 hours ago, Circaflex said:

Good one @T3X4S, I too recently had someone ask for data to be pulled from a computer that was very old. Afterwards I ripped this bad boy out of it

 

 

holy crap ! that is old

[Mando]

On 28/10/2017 at 9:33 AM, T3X4S said:

A little back story - 

The law firm that used to represent my family hired me to do some "clandestine data recovery" (read into that what you will)
They overnight 2 laptops that they need data pulled off of... 
OK - no prob, I'll give it a shot. (I'm going to bill the hell out of them regardless)

They sent the 1st laptop today:

 

I dont know why they asked me - and Im not going to ask - but when I opened the box - wow!

An IBM ThinkPad x30- that booted up like a champ.

They dont build them like this anymore.
 

 

heh, treasure it mate.

 

my daily runner laptop at home >> 

 

I have the ULV i7  (2.67) (fitted 2x4Gb DDR3 2100 and a 256Gb SSD)  runs W10 a dream! I fought tooth and nail not to let it go when it was replacement time.

 

ugly as sin but so bombproof, tempted to bag another, its my old work device. got 2x extra capcity batteries and 3 of the supported Thinkpad docks (with built in DVD-RW drives in each)

 

Very tempted to bag another for general use.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/253211027071?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=45192391362&rlsatarget=pla-327465389490&abcId=1129006&adtype=pla&merchantid=6995734&poi=&googleloc=9045334&device=c&campaignid=861899735&crdt=0

 

they are Lenovo branded, but the last of the X series thinkpads built in Greenock, Scotland. Built like the ships on the Clyde!

Ive dropped mine from waist height still powered on, no issue, sat on it, kicked it across server room floors accidentally, spilt coffee in it powered on, quick inverted flip and power off, day later all was fine. Thing has barely a scratch!!

 

Also the best laptop keyboard ever! I have a PS2 version out of an old IBM Blade chassis rack....cant part with it, its my go to on old servers!

 

[Draconian Guppy]

On 10/28/2017 at 2:33 AM, T3X4S said:

A little back story - 

The law firm that used to represent my family hired me to do some "clandestine data recovery" (read into that what you will)
They overnight 2 laptops that they need data pulled off of... 
OK - no prob, I'll give it a shot. (I'm going to bill the hell out of them regardless)

They sent the 1st laptop today:

 

I dont know why they asked me - and Im not going to ask - but when I opened the box - wow!

An IBM ThinkPad x30- that booted up like a champ.

They dont build them like this anymore.
 

 

I wonder if I can get a windows 10 key with that OEM one

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, Draconian Guppy said:

I wonder if I can get a windows 10 key with that OEM one

I know you are joking but other readers might be alarmed.

 

He didn't care about showing an old XP key since those keys can be generated and/or found in abundance and the Win 10 upgrade path is only from 7 or 8.

 

IMO they should have included Vista which is the same O/S kernel tree as the others.

 

[Draconian Guppy]

Just now, DevTech said:

I know you are joking but other readers might be alarmed.

 

He didn't care about showing an old XP key since those keys can be generated and/or found in abundance and the Win 10 upgrade path is only from 7 or 8.

 

IMO they should have included Vista which is the same O/S kernel tree as the others.

 

or was I  

[DevTech]

2 minutes ago, Draconian Guppy said:

or was I  

If I had more coffee in me we could work up a good ol conspiracy theory:

 

"After the initial discussion, he was very clandestine about it - no emails, insisted on only voice (something about "trails in the sand")  I had never talked to this attorney before, so I wasnt sure.
Then after I got the laptop, and talked to him again - I realized it was nothing - he is just a little ...weird. "

 

where that XP key is secretly a key for an encrypted message that leads either to Benghazi emails or Yellow Videos depending on if you like your conspiracy theories Red or Blue.

 

[Draconian Guppy]

4 minutes ago, DevTech said:

If I had more coffee in me we could work up a good ol conspiracy theory:

 

"After the initial discussion, he was very clandestine about it - no emails, insisted on only voice (something about "trails in the sand")  I had never talked to this attorney before, so I wasnt sure.
Then after I got the laptop, and talked to him again - I realized it was nothing - he is just a little ...weird. "

 

where that XP key is secretly a key for an encrypted message that leads either to Benghazi emails or Yellow Videos depending on if you like your conspiracy theories Red or Blue.

 

Yellow videos  ?

 

But yeah, this is how real terrorists communicate no ?

[DevTech]

6 minutes ago, Draconian Guppy said:

Yellow videos  ?

 

But yeah, this is how real terrorists communicate no ?

Yellow Video - The "Russian Dossier" where supposedly Putin secretly recorded video of "Ladies of Ill-Repute" performing a cleaning ritual on the Trump using his favorite color, gold. As former head of the KGB, this was a regular tactic that Putin would have employed with any high ranking visitor if they could be convinced to stray from the "straight and narrow" - But considering that it is the sort of thing Trump would just brag about if it was real, it seems to have small blackmail potential. Depends on the quality of the actual video I guess, since unlike audio tapes, video does have viral transformative effects on public opinion.

 

On terrorist communication, I have no knowledge other than an impression that it is frequent and more mundane using whatever easily available encrypted chat channels that are available.

 

But that image is much more suggestive of a wonderful array of weirdly connected clues like the movie "National Treasure"

 

Since it is a lawyer in Texas, we could speculate some intrigue going back to the Spanish American War or even the Louisiana Purchase which then travels through Spanish Conquistadors leaving buried gold in Texas that was inadvertently uncovered by the lawyer's family in the Civil War with an intention to finance a Spanish Coup to retake Texas while the U.S. was distracted by the Civil War but then it was seized by Texas Rangers who transported it to caves in the California Hills to be picked up and shipped via a secret IronClad out of San Francisco to finance the British Empire Invasion of Afghanistan but was intercepted by Algerian Pirates off the coast of Morocco and buried under a small piano bar in Casablanca and then...

[DevTech]

Tentative working movie title would be "Blast From The Past"

 

Scene 1

 

It was a dark and stormy night, wind howling through the window rich in a dank heavy smell of the Scottish moors, hounds howling in the distance outside a small rather ordinary house in the suburbs of Ft. Worth. T3X4S hovered his finger over the key to send the long hidden key to a website on the internet, knowing full well, the chain of events he would be setting into motion. With a glance at his favorite handgun close at hand on his desk, he sighed just a little and jammed his digit firmly down in firm resolve.

 

 

[Draconian Guppy]

22 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Yellow Video - The "Russian Dossier" where supposedly Putin secretly recorded video of "Ladies of Ill-Repute" performing a cleaning ritual on the Trump using his favorite color, gold. As former head of the KGB, this was a regular tactic that Putin would have employed with any high ranking visitor if they could be convinced to stray from the "straight and narrow" - But considering that it is the sort of thing Trump would just brag about if it was real, it seems to have small blackmail potential. Depends on the quality of the actual video I guess, since unlike audio tapes, video does have viral transformative effects on public opinion.

 

On terrorist communication, I have no knowledge other than an impression that it is frequent and more mundane using whatever easily available encrypted chat channels that are available.

 

But that image is much more suggestive of a wonderful array of weirdly connected clues like the movie "National Treasure"

 

Since it is a lawyer in Texas, we could speculate some intrigue going back to the Spanish American War or even the Louisiana Purchase which then travels through Spanish Conquistadors leaving buried gold in Texas that was inadvertently uncovered by the lawyer's family in the Civil War with an intention to finance a Spanish Coup to retake Texas while the U.S. was distracted by the Civil War but then it was seized by Texas Rangers who transported it to caves in the California Hills to be picked up and shipped via a secret IronClad out of San Francisco to finance the British Empire Invasion of Afghanistan but was intercepted by Algerian Pirates off the coast of Morocco and buried under a small piano bar in Casablanca and then...

 

16 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Tentative working movie title would be "Blast From The Past"

 

Scene 1

 

It was a dark and stormy night, wind howling through the window rich in a dank heavy smell of the Scottish moors, hounds howling in the distance outside a small rather ordinary house in the suburbs of Ft. Worth. T3X4S hovered his finger over the key to send the long hidden key to a website on the internet, knowing full well, the chain of events he would be setting into motion. With a glance at his favorite handgun close at hand on his desk, he sighed just a little and jammed his digit firmly down in firm resolve.

 

 

whoa! you really need to be a book author of some sorts

 

 

Also:

 

 

 

[Gladiatorus]

On 10/28/2017 at 3:33 AM, T3X4S said:

A little back story - 

The law firm that used to represent my family hired me to do some "clandestine data recovery" (read into that what you will)
They overnight 2 laptops that they need data pulled off of... 
OK - no prob, I'll give it a shot. (I'm going to bill the hell out of them regardless)

They sent the 1st laptop today:

 

I dont know why they asked me - and Im not going to ask - but when I opened the box - wow!

An IBM ThinkPad x30- that booted up like a champ.

They dont build them like this anymore.
 

 

You could be playing Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge without a problem!

43 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Tentative working movie title would be "Blast From The Past"

 

Scene 1

 

It was a dark and stormy night, wind howling through the window rich in a dank heavy smell of the Scottish moors, hounds howling in the distance outside a small rather ordinary house in the suburbs of Ft. Worth. T3X4S hovered his finger over the key to send the long hidden key to a website on the internet, knowing full well, the chain of events he would be setting into motion. With a glance at his favorite handgun close at hand on his desk, he sighed just a little and jammed his digit firmly down in firm resolve.

 

 

What are you doing here???? Go work for Hollywood!!!

[jnelsoninjax]

2 hours ago, DevTech said:

Tentative working movie title would be "Blast From The Past"

 

Scene 1

 

It was a dark and stormy night, wind howling through the window rich in a dank heavy smell of the Scottish moors, hounds howling in the distance outside a small rather ordinary house in the suburbs of Ft. Worth. T3X4S hovered his finger over the key to send the long hidden key to a website on the internet, knowing full well, the chain of events he would be setting into motion. With a glance at his favorite handgun close at hand on his desk, he sighed just a little and jammed his digit firmly down in firm resolve.

 

 

The phone rings, T3X4S glances at the caller ID, damn he mutters as he sees DevTech's name. He picks the phone up and says "It's too late, I already hit the button, you can not stop it now."