I've heard on a radio show there was a study that the number of erases should be 13 (based on the material of the drive). Nothing to recover only with computers but rather with microscopes.
If anyone knows a pointer to that research.... On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, David Verty wrote: > Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 03:10:58 +0000 > From: David Verty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities? > > There is a whole thread on ExtremeTech about this I believe...and it > stretches on for a long run. You might find some useful information there, > like DoD (Department of Defense) standards, and software that exceeds it for > deletation of files. > > What the government does right now to permanently get rid of data is shred > the disk in a metal shredder. > > Are there any programs for secure deletation? Never heard of any really that > were extremely good. > > And i've heard of hard disks storing everything in so called 'layers' (you > have to rewrite your disk three or four times+ with phony data to truly get > rid of everything.) but the edge thing is something i've never heard about. > Interesting. Somebody on ExtremeTech also mentioned that since the signals > are theoretically magnetic, its possible to extract the strength of the > previous magnetic signal (though weak) and rebuild the data from there. > Whatever validity that has i'm not so sure. > > > > > > >From: "MacFerrin, Ken" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Subject: RE: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities? > >Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 11:20:16 -0600 > > > >There are dozens of tools that will "clean" your hard drive by overwriting > >your data in various patterns and such and most any of those will give you > >"decent" security, but.. none of those are going to make the data > >irretrievable to someone with the right equipment. > > > >I'm no expert but the basics of being able to retrieve data stem from the > >fact that when the HDD head overwrites the data it's never able to > >perfectly write along the same track that it did when writing the original > >data. This leaves an "edge" of data that wasn't quite overwritten and that > >"edge" is enough for someone with a basic setup (about 1500 USD) of > >specific equipment to go back and pull the original 1's and 0's off the > >disk.. The only way to truly "clean" the disk is using equipment > >specifically designed to drive the head at a higher voltage to create a > >wider write track and re-write random patterns many times. From what I > >understand though even these re-writes will leave some residue that could > >be picked up by some high-end gear and a skilled operator. > > > >Essentially, if the data was really that sensitive, you need to physically > >destroy the disk.. > >-Ken > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Joris De Donder [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > >Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 6:21 AM > >To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > >Cc: Champion, Steve > >Subject: Suggestions on free XP hard drive wiping utilities? > > > > > > > > > Would someone please throw out a URL and suggestions for free Windows > >XP, > > > hard drive wiping utility's? > > > >http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/ > > > >quote: > > "Eraser is a secure data removal tool, which allows you to remove > > sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it with carefully > > selected patterns. > > > > The program is free software, which means that everyone has > > access to the source code,..." > > > > > > > > > > > >Joris De Donder > > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus > > >
