>===== Original Message From John Daniele <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ===== >The data only has to be overwritten once such that it is unrecoverable >using standard forensic recovery methods. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is false. Completely. A one-time pass --- making data "unrecoverable?" Why is it that Bruce Schneier and others are constantly harping on how we can't assume ANYTHING is truly "unrecoverable" using software methods? Period! Even Gutmann's paper questions his own method! John, in referring others for more information to the over-used "Gutmann Paper" (which is going now on six-years old), need I remind you how recovery capabilities have changed in SIX years? Let me refer you to something more current and more realistic from SANS: http://rr.sans.org/incident/deletion.php It must be remembered the Gutmann 35-pass method is *completely* different in what a "pass" is than, say, the D.O.D 7-pass method. Gutmann's method takes into account various encoding methods used my makers of the drives. It's totally different. Hard drive slack space and unallocated space? Not even mentioned in John's all-inclusive sentence above. How can anything be securely deleted without even touching these data storage hogs that a simple one-pass method will NOT touch? In the very paper John referred to, Peter Gutmann says in the opening sentence of his conclusion,(point 9)"Data overwritten once or twice may be recovered by subtracting what is expected to be read from a storage location from what is actually read."
The kind of misinformation in John's post is dangerous - especially in today's world. Bottom line: Stick with Department of Defense regulations for secure deletion or use the 35-pass Gutmann method. Please, don't let **anyone** tell you a one-time pass will make data "unrecoverable." Mike Donovan
