Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: erase with magnet
From: Michal Zalewski <lcamtuf () ghettot org>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2004 23:18:08 +0200 (CEST)
On Sat, 3 Apr 2004, Tim wrote:
I prefer using the free "wipe" utility, since it was written with advanced recovery techniques in mind. (To install in debian, just run `apt-get install wipe'.)
I think you are all getting off-topic. The original poster asked about a "hardware" method of removing the data without causing a permanent damage to the disk, and is probably well aware of software alternatives - but they simply do not fit certain applications: 1) Multi-pass software wipe is incredibly slow; if you plan to zap a large number of disks (say, you are about to decommission an array), you would probably appreciate a method that does not take days. 2) Software wipe has a number of problems; new research suggests that that established standards (or Gutmann's proposal) may be simply not sufficient, for example because of head positioning inaccuracies that may make some data simply nearly impossible to wipe entirely. 3) Software wipe can be easily defeated by transparent smart mechanisms of modern drives (access optimization, write caching, bad sector relocation or inability to access damaged regions, etc). So far, noone addressed his concerns - for some reason, he does not want to go software, and he specifically asked for a method that makes it possible to reuse the disk - so whacking it with a hammer, driving a nail through, melting it and so forth is probably a silly suggestion. Some folks made quite brave claims about inability to degauss a disk, one guy even claiming the field needed to accomplish this could possibly kill the operator, but this seems to be quite silly considering there is a number of hardware degaussers for hard drives readily available on the market, some of them certified and used by fairly reputable organizations: http://www.periphman.com/degaussing/degaussers/v92.shtml -- ------------------------- bash$ :(){ :|:&};: -- Michal Zalewski * [http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx] Did you know that clones never use mirrors? --------------------------- 2004-04-03 23:04 -- http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/photo/current/ _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- erase with magnet B$H (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Alexander Heidenreich (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Michael Cecil (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Alexander Heidenreich (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Tim (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Michal Zalewski (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Michael Cecil (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Michal Zalewski (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Kurt Seifried (Apr 03)
- RE: erase with magnet Jeff Schreiner (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Maarten (Apr 04)
- RE: [inbox] Re: erase with magnet Exibar (Apr 04)
- Re: [inbox] Re: erase with magnet Maarten (Apr 04)
- RE: [inbox] Re: erase with magnet Exibar (Apr 04)
- Re[2]: [inbox] Re: erase with magnet phased (Apr 04)
- Re: erase with magnet Phaze 7 (Apr 05)
- Re: erase with magnet Michael Cecil (Apr 03)
- Re: erase with magnet Alexander Heidenreich (Apr 03)