[1] For instance, every Java class file has as its first four bytes the hexadecimal value CA FE BA BE.
Simson Garfinkel[2] reported fragmentation statistics collected from over 350 disks containing FAT, NTFS and UFS file systems.
Pal, Shanmugasundaram, and Memon[3] presented an efficient algorithm based on a greedy heuristic and alpha-beta pruning for reassembling fragmented images.
Pal, Sencar, and Memon[4] introduced sequential hypothesis testing as an effective mechanism for detecting fragmentation points.
Richard and Roussev[5] presented Scalpel, an open-source file-carving tool [6] existing since 2005 and initially based on Foremost.
State-of-the-art file carving algorithms use statistical techniques like sequential hypothesis testing for determining fragmentation points.
File carving can be used to recover data from a hard disk where the metadata was removed or otherwise damaged.
Garfinkel[2] introduced the use of fast object validation for reassembling files that have been split into two pieces.
Memory-dump carving is routinely used in digital forensics, allowing investigators to access ephemeral evidence.
Ephemeral evidence includes recently accessed images and Web pages, documents, chats and communications committed via social networks.