[xevrem]

but wasn't the evaporation of black holes a suggested solution by hawking for information being "lost forever" in a black hole?

i.e., hawking radiation is itself unconfirmed, so its a "solution" for something that remains unproven :|

[ssivark]

Right, but that is using a semi-classical calculation, whereas we know that ultimately any process (evolution of a closed system like the universe) compatible with quantum mechanics needs to be unitary/reversible.

That mismatch is what sets up the BH information “paradox”.