Password-Protected/locked Folder during computer repair data recovery

[Sheraden]

Hello, I had a folder with private content that I wanted to keep private, so I set up a locking/password mechanism with a Batch file I believe.

My hard drive has been recently damaged and I am in need of a data recovery. (I have learned my lesson and just purchased an external hard drive)

There are other files that I NEED off my computer and I am worried that the computer technician will see these private files within the protected folder or that he will gain access to them somehow.

1. What are the chances of the technician finding and viewing my files if they are brought back during the recovery?

2. Will the protection mechanisms be bypassed during the recovery, allowing them to be viewed in plain sight?

3. Will all my files within different folders be scrambled in my computer after recovery?

4. How long does recovery take?

5. Are there any legislative measures I can take, or anything that I can say or do to intimidate him into never snooping nor divulging or copying these files?
Thanks

 

[DelJo63]

During a forensic recovery, the OS protections are not operative - - not even the R/O. So when reading raw sectors, none of the access controls CAN BE applied and everything is naked to the person doing the work.

The ONLY protection possible would be file encryption, where the sector data is scrambled.

One of the nastiest problems of the data recovered is that even the file names are usually lost and you get back nondescript File00001, File00002, ....