ATLAS Report 2026.08.15 — The Counter Is Not the Copy

Public ATLAS recovery report for two imaging routes closed by evidence: a whole-disk copy ended with a device error after approximately 1.996 TB, while a later read-only ext4 used-block attempt exposed incompatible block accounting and was stopped before overrunning its 2 TB destination. Source media remained protected and recovery is not declared complete.

SOURCE RECORD // READY

Date
ID
FI-LOG-017
Type
atlas-report
Object
WD Red archive media / ext4 recovery record
System
raw-disk imaging / ext4 used-block imaging / source-preservation boundary
Condition
recovery incomplete / source media preserved / two routes closed by evidence
Status
destructive work withheld / reachable-file recovery pending
Associated dossier
L'Archive / FI-PROJ-007

SYSTEM OUTPUT // FIELD INSTRUMENT

atlas-report public field report L'Archive WD Red ext4 archive recovery data preservation failure record source identity verification boundary operator authority

>STATUS

TWO IMAGING ROUTES CLOSED BY EVIDENCE // NO SUCCESSFUL CLONE DECLARED // SOURCE MEDIA PRESERVED // RECOVERY REMAINS OPEN. RAW ARTIFACTS, DEVICE IDENTIFIERS, FILESYSTEM IDENTIFIERS, AND LOCAL PATHS REMAIN OUTSIDE THE PUBLIC RECORD.

>SOURCE BOUNDARY

FIELD CHRONOLOGY CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE EXTERNALLY ATTACHED WD RED STATE. A REUSED OPERATING-SYSTEM DEVICE NUMBER IS NOT PHYSICAL IDENTITY. THE WHOLE-DISK ATTEMPT AND LATER EXT4 INSPECTION ARE NOT MERGED INTO ONE SOURCE CLAIM. EVERY SOURCE AND TARGET MUST BE RE-IDENTIFIED FROM LIVE HARDWARE FACTS BEFORE ACTION.

>WHOLE-DISK ROUTE

APPROXIMATELY 1.996 TB TRANSFERRED BEFORE SOURCE AND TARGET DEVICES BECAME UNAVAILABLE. THE COPY PROCESS RETURNED A DEVICE ERROR AND EXIT STATUS 1. THE BYTE COUNT IS RETAINED AS PROGRESS EVIDENCE, NOT ACCEPTED AS A COMPLETED OR VERIFIED CLONE.

>EXT4 ROUTE

A SEPARATELY IDENTIFIED EXT4 SOURCE WAS INSPECTED READ-ONLY. ITS SUPERBLOCK REPORTED APPROXIMATELY 1.71 TB USED, BUT INODE TRAVERSAL REFERENCED APPROXIMATELY 3.84 TB. THE USED-BLOCK IMAGE COULD NOT FIT THE BOUNDED 2 TB DESTINATION AND WAS STOPPED BEFORE DESTINATION EXHAUSTION.

>WHAT HELD

SOURCE WRITES WITHHELD // CONFIRMED TARGET BOUNDARY MAINTAINED // ADJACENT VERIFIED ARCHIVE VOLUME LEFT UNALTERED // INCOMPLETE OUTPUT NOT PROMOTED AS AN ARCHIVE COPY. DESTRUCTIVE WORK DID NOT EXPAND WHEN THE PREFERRED ROUTES FAILED.

>VERIFICATION STANDARD

A TRANSFER COUNTER PROVES BYTES MOVED. RECOVERY ACCEPTANCE REQUIRES A SUCCESSFUL PROCESS EXIT // POSITIVE SOURCE AND TARGET IDENTITY // DESTINATION INSPECTION // EXPECTED FILE COUNTS AND READABLE SAMPLES // MANIFEST OR CHECKSUM COMPARISON // CONFIRMATION THAT PROTECTED ADJACENT STORAGE WAS NOT ALTERED.

>NEXT ROUTE

EXPOSE THE EXT4 DIRECTORY TREE WITHOUT JOURNAL REPLAY // COPY ONLY REACHABLE FILES TO A SUFFICIENT DESTINATION // CAPTURE FILESYSTEM METADATA AS A SEPARATE ARTIFACT. RECONFIRM PHYSICAL SOURCE, DESTINATION, MOUNT STATE, FREE CAPACITY, AND WRITE BOUNDARY FROM LIVE EVIDENCE BEFORE THE NEXT COMMAND.

>ASSESSMENT

RECOVERY IS NOT COMPLETE. THE SOURCES STILL EXIST // FAILED ROUTES ARE DOCUMENTED // THE NEXT METHOD HAS A SMALLER FAILURE SURFACE. THE COUNTER IS NOT THE COPY.

INSPECTABLE SOURCE // CANONICAL

ATLAS // Public Field Report // 2026.08.15

Canonical source: src/data/field-logs.yml

Draft/source note: src/docs/field-logs/atlas-report-2026-08-15-the-counter-is-not-the-copy.md

Route: /atlas/atlas-report-2026-08-15-the-counter-is-not-the-copy/

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