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Data Recovery From Magnetic Media Using Magnetic Force Microscopy, Terry R. Ferrett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Magnetic tapes are widely used to store voice and other data. Due to the effect of hysteresis, modification of the magnetization pattern written to a tape by overwriting, erasing, or physical damage leaves remanent information about the previous magnetization state that can not be discerned by standard audio playback devices. Recently, a high resolution microscopy technique known as magnetoresistive microscopy was used by Pappas et al. in an attempt to recover data from audio tapes which were physically damaged. However, the device, while having a higher resolution than tape playback heads, still averages over entire audio track widths when collecting …