full-disclosure - Erasing a hard disk easily

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Message-ID: <200407140050.55815.fulldisc@ultratux.org>
From: fulldisc at ultratux.org (Maarten)
Subject: Erasing a hard disk easily

On Tuesday 13 July 2004 19:16, Kain, Becki \(B.\) wrote:
> Personally, I've used Eraser with the one pass option and tested it against
> Encase and couldn't retrieve anything.  It's free, it's quick, and I'd
> highly recommend it.

Well, however impressive Encase might look (I didn't know it) I think it is 
safe to say that NO solely software based recovery is possible after a disk 
wipe.  The real issue is when people start looking with specialized 
equipment, but this invariably will involve a cleanroom and special tools, 
either modified firmware, electron microscopes or anything in between.
But a wipe is IMO unrecoverable through _any_ userland software...

So, this does not really prove anything about your data being safe (or lost, 
depending on your viewpoint) beyond that Encase cannot fix that.

It is all due to the disk reporting back ones and zeros. For recovery of 
deleted data, you don't want such a digital yes/no signal, but an analog 
signal, so that you can differentiate between reading a 0.04 and a 0.08 
instead of treating both (correctly) as zero.  Drives do not offer that 
(analog) output and without that you cannot restore nothin'.

Maarten

> -----Original Message-----
> From: full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com
> [mailto:full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com]On Behalf Of amilabs
> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:51 AM
> To: 'Marek Isalski'; full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
> Subject: RE: [Full-Disclosure] Erasing a hard disk easily
>
>
>
> That's what I am going to do to the non donated units smash, drill and M80
> them.
> But for the ones I am donating I was wondering if the magnet approach was
> quick enough.
>
> Thanks..
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com
> [mailto:full-disclosure-admin@...ts.netsys.com] On Behalf Of Marek Isalski
> Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 9:21 AM
> To: full-disclosure@...ts.netsys.com
> Subject: RE: [Full-Disclosure] Erasing a hard disk easily
>
> >>> Javier Liendo <javier@...ndo.net> 13/07/2004 04:59:16 >>>
> >
> > i've read that physically removing the disk plates from a modern hard
> > disk is more than enough to make the information contained there
> > imposible to read.
>
> Our standard procedure for destruction of hard disks is summed up in two
> words:
>
> Pillar Drill.
>
> Line 'em up and drill 'em through.  You can do a hundred in a few minutes.
>
> Regards,
>
> Marek
>
> _______________________________________________
> Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
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