Data hiding techniques in the Host Protected Area (HPA) and Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) areas of SATA Hard Disk Drives have become a frequently used anti-forensic activity to hide data and evidence. The area is inaccessible to standard operating systems and software, making it capable of hiding data. This technique utilizes the ability of the SATA Hard Disk Drive to reconfigure the storage size so as to hide evidence. When anti-forensic data hiding Host Protected Area (HPA) and Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) activities occur, it is necessary to conduct a digital forensic investigation to find clues that are useful in solving crimes. Therefore, in this research, an assessment of data hiding techniques using Host Protected Area (HPA) and Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) on SATA Hard Disk Drives is carried out. The implementation of the HPA DCO data hiding technique on a SATA Hard Disk Drive by identifying the HPA DCO area on the SATA HDD and investigating the acquisition results on the SATA HDD is the subject of this research. It is expected that the results will provide a comprehensive overview of HPA DCO data hiding techniques on a SATA HDD as well as recommendations on how to identify and investigate SATA HDDs that have HPA DCO. This effort aims to evaluate the HPA DCO data hiding technique in various cases and provide insight into the potential use of this technique in hiding data or evidence.
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