Story
While conducting an experiment I was saving a stream of random Bytes generated by a hardware RNG device. After the experiment was finished, I realized that the saving method was incorrect. I hope I can find the way how to fix the corrupted file so that I obtain the correct stream of random numbers back.
Example
The story of the problem can be explained in the following simple example.
Let's say I have a stream of random numbers in an input file randomInput.bin. I will simulate the stream of random numbers coming from the hardware RNG device by sending the input file to stdout via cat. I found two ways how to save this stream to a file:
A) Harmless saving method
This method gives me exactly the original stream of random Bytes.
import scala.sys.process._
import java.io.File
val res = ("cat randomInput.bin" #> new File(outputFile))!
B) Saving method leading to corruption
Unfortunately, this is the original saving method I chose.
import scala.sys.process._
import java.io.PrintWriter
val randomBits = "cat randomInput.bin".!!
val out = new PrintWriter(outputFile)
out.println(randomBits)
if (out != null) {
out.close()
Seq("chmod", "600", outputFile).!
}
The file saved using method B) is still binary, however, is is approximately 2x larger that the file saved by method A). Further analysis shows that the stream of random Bits is significantly less random.
Summary
I suspect that the saving method B) adds something to almost every byte, however, the understanding of this is behind my expertise in Java/Scala I/O.
I would very much appreciate if somebody explained me the low-level difference between methods A) and B). The goal is to revert the changes created by saving method B) and obtain the original stream of random Bytes.
Thank you very much in advance!
