Windows file system
Windows machines use NTFS, which used to stand for New Technology filesystem, although the acronym has now become obsolete. All versions of Windows run on NTFS as default.
The main thing to remember about NTFS is that everything is a file. The idea behind the filesystems creation was that it would be easily scalable, as well as being secure and reliable at all levels. This does present some unique challenges for forensic investigation and administrative usage, however knowing that any file can be located anywhere on the system makes it challenging to understand precisely what one is looking at when analyzing a machine.
The Master File Table (MFT) is the basis of the filesystem. In here, we find all the relevant information ...
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