[Eclug] Disk wiping (was: Re: eclug at lists.eclug.net)

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  • David Woyciesjes woyciesjes at sbcglobal.net
    Thu Oct 5 09:24:03 EDT 2006

     

    Berend Tober wrote:
    > 
    > I found this simple suggestion via Googling on techniques for scrubbing 
    > hard drives prior to disposal:
    > 
    > dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/hdb && dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdb
    > 
    > (repeated in a for-do loop several times)
    > 
    > This seems simple and inexpensive, but I was wondering about a couple 
    > things. Specifically:
    > 
    > How does it know how much data to write or when to stop?
    > 
    > Anyone have experience or comments regarding the effectiveness of this 
    > technique?
    > 
    > I imagine it could require some time, too.
    > 
    > 
    > I also read a little about the standard shred utility, but there seemed 
    > to be some cavea  related to ext3 file systems.
    > 
    > -- BMT
    
        I can't answer your questions, but here are some pages about Autoclave, which I've used. Works on any IDE drive, regardless of the FS type. Apparently this program used a modified version of shred.
    
    Original (?) page about Autoclave...
    http://www.infotech.siu.edu/csc/howto/common/autoclave.html
    
    End of life notice from 3/3/2005...
    http://staff.washington.edu/jdlarios/autoclave/
    
    ...and the research it was apparently based off of...
    http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html
    
    -- 
     --- Dave Woyciesjes
     --- ICQ# 905818
     --- AIM - woyciesjes
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