Re: Degausser recommendations

[Jeff Kell <jeff-kell () UTC EDU>]

Kevin Shalla wrote:
> You may want to look at
> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/DataSanitizationTutorial.pdf
> In short, it says that most ATA drives since 2001 have a built-in
> utility that does a much better and much faster job of wiping disks
> clean than typical block erase (like the DOD 5220).  It also says that
> because of changes in disk drive technology, degaussers are becoming
> less and less valuable for wiping disks.

To quote from my Forensic class notes:

> NIST SP800-88 - "Studies have shown that most of today's media can be
> effectively cleared by one overwrite."
>
> "Purging information is a media sanitization process that protects the
> confidentiality of information against a laboratory attack.  For some
> media, clearing media would not suffice for purging.  However, for ATA
> disk dries manufactured after 2001 (over 15GB) the terms clearing and
> purging have converged."
>
> http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_rev1.pdf

Jeff