What are the key differences between recovering a deleted file from NTFS versus Ext4 file systems, focusing on metadata recovery?

The key differences between recovering a deleted file from NTFS versus Ext4 file systems, focusing on metadata recovery, lie in how each file system manages file records and metadata. In NTFS, file metadata, including filenames, timestamps, and file sizes, is primarily stored in the Master File Table (MFT). When a file is deleted, its MFT entry isn't immediately erased; instead, it's marked as 'available'. This means that the metadata remains intact until overwritten by new file activity. Tools can often recover this metadata relatively easily, allowing for the reconstruction of file attributes even if the file's data blocks have been overwritten. In Ext4, file metadata is stored in inodes. When a file is deleted, its inode is also marked as 'available', and the blocks it pointed to are released. While the inode itself may still exist for some time, the information within it, especially pointers to data blocks, can be overwritten more quickly than in NTFS, particularly if journaling is disabled or not fully utilized. Journaling in Ext4 can preserve metadata changes, but the extent of metadata recovery depends on the journaling configuration and activity on the file system after deletion. Therefore, recovering complete metadata for deleted files in Ext4 can be more challenging than in NTFS, as the inode information is more susceptible to being lost or overwritten. Tools must often rely on carving techniques and file system analysis to reconstruct metadata from fragments, which may result in incomplete or inaccurate recovery.