On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 01:58:27AM -0700, Jonathan Ryshpan wrote: > > On 05/30/2009 04:49 AM, Mike Cloaked wrote: > > How do you access the security erase facility? > > All kidding aside, there's a web site from which you can download a > little DOS utility to invoke security erase on a drive. The README > claims that security erase is better than smashing the drive to bits, > though (I suspect) not better then pulling out the platters and > blowtorching them till the oxide falls off. > > URL for the site is: > http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml > Use disk vendor tools! If you are an individual worried about other individuals reading your data then vendor tools are more than enough. Each vendor has their own download tool set to partition, format and check the drive for errors. Look for (demand) tools you can burn to a stand alone CDROM.... (think .iso file). These tools are most valueable when repurposing hardware inside an organization. Speaking of Burn.... the only way to 100% wipe a magnetic drive is to take the media up to and beyond the Curie point -- i.e. blow torch to cut it in half... turn it to slag. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curie_point If you are an "agency" then you should not be getting info from this list so go away or call me for an expensive consultation gig. Governments will go to astounding lengths to extract data each group has policy and procedures to match the needs. If you are a company (federal contract, human resources personal data, credit card data or pharmaceutical company for example) then each drive and the data set needs to be tracked and audited from beginning to end and more. By more I mean that it is important to comply with national, state and local policy and regulations. Any ad-hock tool is fine and dandy but will not meet compliance requirements unless it happens to be specified. If you are a criminal just toss it in the dumpster no one will find it anyhow. Following Jonathan's excelent URL pointer found this fun read: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/DataSanitizationTutorial.pdf -- T o m M i t c h e l l Found me a new hat, now what? -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
