Making a Logical Image like VHD Immutable by hashing the contenainer

[David (PassMark)]

Any file from any software can be changed (or corrupted by for example a low level disk error). So nothing is really immutable. A write once CD ROM is the exception to deliberate change, but corruption is still possible. So the challenge is more about detecting the change.

So yes, if you want to detect a change, creating a hash is a good option.

You can either create a hash of the whole VHD file after the file is made from the hashing module.
And / or you can create a hash of each individual file within the VHD file as it is created. See the details below.

Hash of each file
It takes slightly longer but you can hash each file as it is copied and a log is kept. You need to export the log at the end.


Example exported log file extract
MD5 and SHA256 hashes are included for each file. Plus you also get the file name, folder path, attributes, and dates.


Single Hash of entire VHD
You can pick your preferred hash functions, then copy / paste it into a text file.

[Bigy24]

How can we make a logical image like ".vhd" immutable in OSF? By adding a hash to the container like ".ad1" FTK
Thanks