Data Permanently Erased From Florida Computers The examination, paid for by a group of news organizations including The New York Times, also found that some information had probably been permanently erased earlier this year after new operating systems were installed on three of the four computers, experts from Ontrack Data International Inc., a firm based in Minneapolis, said yesterday. While finding "bits and pieces" of hundreds of partly deleted files, they said there was no way to know the full extent of the destruction. But they also said they had found no evidence that records had been systematically purged as part of an intentional effort to destroy election documents. "If somebody did that, then it was a pretty poor attempt to cover their tracks," said Mike Rands, manager of operations for DataTrail, a division of Ontrack Data that specializes in data recovery and forensic computer examinations. Indeed, the company's examination unearthed dozens of election- related documents that had never been released by Ms. Harris's office. Among other things, the examination showed that Ms. Harris's lawyers and aides used the machines to send and retrieve e-mail messages, conduct legal research via the Internet, prepare Ms. Harris for potential questions from reporters and even to hunt for snappy quotations for her speeches. For months, Ms. Harris's lawyers have insisted that the computers had been used solely to write news releases. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/08/politics/08FLOR.htm