Great little free disk whipe utility

[Mallow]

I have norton utilities 2003 whipe info but I couldn't figure out how to clean a fileless harddrive. It seems that most utilities of this type are set up for you to clear your harddrive of a specific file. In my case I had already deleted all files from my harddrive and wanted to fill the free space to erase the data. This utility allows you to just clear the free space on a harddrive. I thought it was cool. Eraser

 

[onelin]

Cool. I believe PGP has a feature like this also.

 

[Mallow]

tight, I'll have to check that one out too ^_^

 

[FoBoT]

autoclave is another option
customized linux on a floppy

you have several options:

zero the drive
write 1 pass of random 0-1
3 pass random
10 passes, some random, some structured (i think the idea is to put false groups of similar state vs totally random)
25 pass (says "probably secure against the NSA")

 

[J3anyus]

Originally posted by: FoBoT

25 pass (says "probably secure against the NSA")

I don't know how accurate this is, but I've been told that it takes 67 passes of random 1s and 0s to truly make the data on a drive unrecoverable. However, I'm told that even after 67 passes, someone with a good electron microscope and other equipment can still pull data off of the drive. I don't know how much I believe that, but it's what I've heard

 

[Mallow]

Originally posted by: J3anyus

Originally posted by: FoBoT

25 pass (says "probably secure against the NSA")

I don't know how accurate this is, but I've been told that it takes 67 passes of random 1s and 0s to truly make the data on a drive unrecoverable. However, I'm told that even after 67 passes, someone with a good electron microscope and other equipment can still pull data off of the drive. I don't know how much I believe that, but it's what I've heard

If someone wants my data bad enough to use an electron microscope they can have it ^_^

 

[JackBurton]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I've been told that it takes 67 passes of random 1s and 0s to truly make the data on a drive unrecoverable. However, I'm told that even after 67 passes, someone with a good electron microscope and other equipment can still pull data off of the drive. I don't know how much I believe that, but it's what I've heard

This is a myth going around the net. DoD (Department of Defense) is 7 passes. You're safe with that.

 

[Mallow]

Originally posted by: JackBurton

I don't know how accurate this is, but I've been told that it takes 67 passes of random 1s and 0s to truly make the data on a drive unrecoverable. However, I'm told that even after 67 passes, someone with a good electron microscope and other equipment can still pull data off of the drive. I don't know how much I believe that, but it's what I've heard

This is a myth going around the net. DoD (Department of Defense) is 7 passes. You're safe with that.

yeah, that is why Norton Info Wipe told me... if it's good enough for the DoD it's good enough for me