Palindrome wrote:
> bealoid wrote:
>> Palindrome wrote in news:F%NBj.18028$se7.16142
>> @fe11.news.easynews.com:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> Depending on the value of the old hard disk, either stick it under
>>> the bench drill or wipe it using at least two different secure erase
>>> methods.
>>
>> One single overwrite of all zeros will render the disk unreadable to
>> anyone, including well funded law enforcement officials.
>>
>> Paranoid types, worried about government agencies or alien technology,
>> could do several over-writes using pseudo random data.
>>
>
> I well remember one utility provided by DEC, a mainstream company at the
> time, that reported "Completed -OK". But had, in fact, not over-written
> a single byte.
>
> Plus very many other promises of functionality by software houses, that
> haven't proven to be justified.
>
> Since then I haven't trusted any software that I haven't written myself,
> in assembler..
>
> So the "two different secure erase methods" wasn't because one wouldn't
> do, it was lack of trust of other people's software. With any luck, they
> both won't fail - at least won't both fail in the same way and without
> warnings.
>
>
>
DBAN is very effective at wiping disks, and is free too. It's available
as a paid for version (EBAN), which is used by many organisations for
wiping disks before disposing of computers.
--
Robbie |