

Reminder: Disk Arbitrator does its work by actively participating in the mounting process. It also checks the file system type and, if it is HFS, it includes the flag to ignore the journal. When activated and in Read-only mode, it rejects the original mount action and automatically sends its own request to mount the volume, but it ensures the mount includes the option to make the file system read-only.

When activated and in Block Mounts mode, it simply rejects every new system attempt to mount a volume. When deactivated, it just observes the disk changes When a new disk is attached, the system notifies Disk Arbitrator and gives it a chance to reject mounting of a disk volume. Gray: the utility is deactivated and attached disks will be automatically mounted by the system.ĭisk Arbitrator continuously monitors for disks to appear and disappear and tracks the disks in the main window. Orange: the utility is activated and in Read-only mode. Green: the utility is activated and in Block Mounts mode. The status bar icon indicates one of three states: When launched, it adds its icon to the status bar on the right side of the menu bar. This offers the most assurance that Disk Arbitrator will be running whenever you are logged in. In addition, the plist contains a setting which instructs launchd to monitor the application and automatically relaunch it in the event of a crash or if otherwise quit. When installed, the system's launchd will automatically launch Disk Arbitrator when you log in, just like a Login Item. Use the included "Install User Launch Agent" feature (accessible from the menu). There are two ways to do this:Īdd Disk Arbitrator to your Login Items in the User & Groups (or Accounts on older OS X versions) preference panel in System Preferences. You may optionally want to have Disk Arbitrator automatically running every time you log in. To install, drag the Disk Arbitrator application to the desired location, for example /Applications. You can find links to compiled executables on the releases page. Disk Arbitrator compliments a write-blocker with additional useful features and eliminates the typical forensic recommendation to "disable disk arbitration." System Requirements

#DISK ARBITRATOR MAC SOFTWARE#
Owing to this fact, a hardware or software write-blocker may still be desirable for the most sound procedure.

The user still must be careful to not accidentally write to a disk with a command such as "dd". It is important to note that Disk Arbitrator is not a software write blocker-it does not change the state of currently attached devices nor does it affect newly attached devices to force a device to be read-only. When enabled, Disk Arbitrator will block the mounting of file systems to avoid mounting as read-write and violating the integrity of the evidence. Storage devices, including the automatic mounting of file systems.
#DISK ARBITRATOR MAC MAC OS X#
Disk Arbitrator is a Mac OS X forensic utility designed to help the user ensure correct forensic procedures are followed during imaging of a disk device.ĭisk Arbitrator is essentially a user interface to the Disk Arbitration framework, which enables a program to participate in the management of block
