Re: How to REALLY delete data

From: Rick Jones (rick.jones2_at_hp.com)
Date: 10/25/05

  • Next message: Alan D Johnson: "Re: boot from dvd" 
    Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:31:30 GMT

    Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
    > Gerold Krommer <g.krommer@doremove.fns.co.at> wrote:
    >> I have the chance to aquire (for free) a nicely equiped D320 with
    >> quite some storage from one of our customers. The customer is a
    >> credit card company and the only reqirement from the customer is to
    >> reliably delete all data from the data disks (OS is separate and
    >> contains no relevant data). How can I delete the data so it cannot
    >> be reconstructed in any way whatsoever? dd zeroes all over? Format?

    > Please tell us which credit card company this is, so we can avoid it
    > like the plague! :-(

    Ditto. While they did happen to have the good sense to buy HP
    equipment :) That they would even begin to consider selling the discs
    with customer equipment on them is Bad News (tm).

    And _they_ should be the ones wiping the discs, not you. As
    trustworthy as you likely are, they should not be trusting anyone
    outside of their organization with the procedure. Unless you happen
    to be a bonafide data security contractor or something.

    > But to answer your questions, including some which you did not
    > ask:

    > "not in any way"? Then the only solution is to physically destroy
    > the (platters of) the disks. Even LLF-ed (Low-Level Formatted) disks
    > can be (partly) read, given the right equipment and time.

    > Otherwise, if the disks are to be re-used (as in your case), use
    > "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/... bs=<large>".

    IIRC there are suggestions to do that dd with a number of different
    "if" settings - alternatively writing ones and zeros and perhaps even
    random data to the disc.

    However, as Frank says, the only way to be really sure that the data
    cannot be retrieved is to utterly destroy the discs - where
    "physically destroy" would be some combination of taking a grinder to
    the platter and melting the thing down.

    rick jones 

    -- 
No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause.
There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.  - Jobert
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...
  • Next message: Alan D Johnson: "Re: boot from dvd"

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