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Re: Erasing a hard disk easily
From: Maarten <fulldisc () ultratux org>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 23:23:24 +0200
On Monday 12 July 2004 21:27, amilabs wrote:
I have a bunch of old computers I would like to donate. Old laptops with win 95/98 on them and some old tower desktops all circa 1995-2k. I would like to know if I can just use a magnet to completely wipe out the data for obvious security reasons. I have heard about the disk erasers like active kill and Perl utilities for this but with the ability of data ghosting etc. is this enough? Can I use a big magnet like a speaker magnet or something like a degasser to just wipe out the data without having to boot these old boxes and go through all the extra work.
Um, yes and no. Actually: No (for what you want to accomplish). No you cannot use a big strong magnet. In fact, a _very_ strong magnet is already inside each drive, as part of the actuator coil assembly that moves the head. I'm not kidding, those are real strong magnets. Barely can't get them off my refrigerator. (no, really...) :-) To get a magnet close enough to the surface to be effective you'd need to open up the drive and that spells certain death for the device. And even then, to erase you need an alternating magnetic field, a static one (from a magnet) will not erase anything. Or, at least not with feasible field-strengths... In the meantime, there are industry bulk erasers available that alledgedly also can handle drives (they're quite pricey!). But their use is solely for destroying data AND drive together; as the drive is totally wiped, the servo tracks that the factory installed are also gone. Without them, the drive is utterly useless, and servo tracks can only be (re)written at the factory. So, if you want to erase the data but keep the drives operational too, you have but one means left: by plain old formatting. Depending on the level of security you want, you can opt for: * DOS/Windows format (beware: this does not erase ANY data at all !!) * Low-level format / wipe (with special tools, level depends on the tool used) * Linux dd overwriting using /dev/zero (fairly good if used multiple times) * Linux dd overwriting using random data (excellent if used multiple times) * Department-of-defense level (dd as above but lots more times (like 10+)) An overwrite with all zeros will -allegedly- not withstand a serious data-recovery attempt by professionals, not even when repeated. An overwrite with alternating zeros and ones will defer almost anbody, and so will a random-data overwrite, provided both are repeated at least 3-5 times. A single wipe with ones is not effective against determined people. But all of the above will still defer an amateur (without funds). And a DOS format will not defer anybody except newbies, nitwits and idiots. :-) [ the command for dd overwrite with zeros is: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hd? ] Good luck with it. Maarten -- Yes of course I'm sure it's the red cable. I guarante[^%!/+)F#0c|'NO CARRIER _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- Remote crash of Half-Life servers and clients (versions before the 07 July 2004) Luigi Auriemma (Jul 12)
- Erasing a hard disk easily amilabs (Jul 12)
- RE: Erasing a hard disk easily amilabs (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Maarten (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Gregh (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily David Vincent (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily James Riden (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Michael Williamson (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Dave Horsfall (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily morning_wood (Jul 12)
- RE: Erasing a hard disk easily amilabs (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Thomas Sjögren (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Tim (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Aditya, ALD [ Aditya Lalit Deshmukh ] (Jul 12)
- Re: Erasing a hard disk easily Pavel Kankovsky (Jul 13)
- Erasing a hard disk easily amilabs (Jul 12)