[77pt77]

How can they possibly know that?

If that is the case then there should be no problem convicting him.

[sandworm101]

They had access to the drive at one point.

In a filesharing seneario it is common for feds to see what you got before the raid that grabs the physical drive.

[lagadu]

Either what they have is enough for a conviction or it's not. If it is, then there's no need to actually get access to it, if it's not then it might as well not exist.

[KingMachiavelli]

In the file sharing scenario, how would the feds know that the encrypted drive actually has the files? They can only know what they suspect is on the drive.

[sandworm101]

It isnt about absolutes. They can be reasonably certain that the drive was in use on a network.