Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
on 3-5-2010 3:03 PM JohnS spake the following: On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 22:33 +, David G.Miller wrote: m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Since most are about 5 x 3-1/2 that makes a perfect MOA target at 1000 yards with 165gr 308. It just goes into pieces of dust. John Gonna be hard to SEE a hard drive with the Garand's iron sights at 1000 yds, much less HIT one. signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Scott Silva ssi...@sgvwater.com wrote: on 3-5-2010 3:03 PM JohnS spake the following: On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 22:33 +, David G.Miller wrote: m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Since most are about 5 x 3-1/2 that makes a perfect MOA target at 1000 yards with 165gr 308. It just goes into pieces of dust. John Gonna be hard to SEE a hard drive with the Garand's iron sights at 1000 yds, much less HIT one. With no offense to those involved, I feel compelled to point out that reading this from the top down is a perfect example of what's wrong with top-posting :-) Cheers! mhr ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
MHR wrote: On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Scott Silva ssi...@sgvwater.com wrote: on 3-5-2010 3:03 PM JohnS spake the following: On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 22:33 +, David G.Miller wrote: m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Since most are about 5 x 3-1/2 that makes a perfect MOA target at 1000 yards with 165gr 308. It just goes into pieces of dust. John Gonna be hard to SEE a hard drive with the Garand's iron sights at 1000 yds, much less HIT one. With no offense to those involved, I feel compelled to point out that reading this from the top down is a perfect example of what's wrong with top-posting :-) Cheers! mhr ___ Methinks MHR makes a very good point. Reading through all this 'may' be interesting to those of us taken to destroying old hardware by fun means, it seems hardly on point to those looking for some real info on 'fdisk and dd'. Bottom posting hardly helps the situation. IMHO. EW ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On 3/15/10, Scott Silva ssi...@sgvwater.com wrote: on 3-5-2010 3:03 PM JohnS spake the following: On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 22:33 +, David G.Miller wrote: m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Since most are about 5 x 3-1/2 that makes a perfect MOA target at 1000 yards with 165gr 308. It just goes into pieces of dust. John Gonna be hard to SEE a hard drive with the Garand's iron sights at 1000 yds, much less HIT one. Yeap, to bad it has Open Sights on it. That's a bummer. John ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
From: Mike McCarty mike.mcca...@sbcglobal.net What is the difference between the above two commands? Did I miss something? See my second post where I replaced zero by random... I don't know what n times more secure means. Could you please explain? Does that mean that, with n times as much work, one can still recover the information? That was (still is?) the case... They say that nowdays once is enough... And I guess the NSA and co. would like us to believe that... muahahahaaa ^_^ If the DoD considers overwriting acceptable for clearing magnetic media _within the same security area/zone_, there must be a reason. But yeah, I tend to be a little paranoid most of the times... JD ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Cheers, Dave ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On Fri, 2010-03-05 at 22:33 +, David G.Miller wrote: m.r...@... writes: m.r...@... wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Since most are about 5 x 3-1/2 that makes a perfect MOA target at 1000 yards with 165gr 308. It just goes into pieces of dust. John ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On Fri, 5 Mar 2010, David G. Miller wrote: Over the years I've ended up with a pile of old hard drives. Some are unreliable; some won't even spin up and some are just REALLY old (e.g., 100s of MB size). I also inherited a couple of rifles (M-1 Garand and M-1 Carbine). I'm thinking write /dev/urandom to ones that will spin but then take the whole lot out in the country for some target practice. It may be possible to scape a little data off of what's left after the drive gets hit with a round from the Garand but I doubt if anyone will want to go to the trouble. It could also be fun. Or, donate the drives and a cheap torx driver to the educational charity of your choice. Kids *love* taking them apart, and the magnets are quite useful! -- Paul Heinlein heinl...@madboa.com http://www.madboa.com/ ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
Paul Heinlein wrote: Or, donate the drives and a cheap torx driver to the educational charity of your choice. Kids *love* taking them apart, and the magnets are quite useful! hah, I have some magnets from some old 5.25 ESDI server drives on my fridge at home. one of them easily holds a really thick calendar to the fridge, you have to be careful, those buggers can pinch you hard. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
- Original Message From: Paul Heinlein heinl...@madboa.com To: CentOS mailing list centos@centos.org Sent: Fri, March 5, 2010 8:16:19 PM Subject: Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd Or, donate the drives and a cheap torx driver to the educational charity of your choice. Kids *love* taking them apart, and the magnets are quite useful! HD magnets are great. Those are one of the few things strong enough to keep my 2-year old son from opening doors and drawers :) Fer ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
Greetings, On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 6:31 PM, chloe K chloekcy2...@yahoo.ca wrote: Hi all What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? ls fdisk ok or use dd Can data be recovered? and what is the dd command? fdisk just repartiions the disk. dd is an axe. It can be used to copy anything to anything. This is useful to _really_ wipe data off. Regards Rajagopal ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 1:01 PM, chloe K chloekcy2...@yahoo.ca wrote: What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? If you want to securely remove the data, I recommend using a tool like DBAN. If you want to just wipe out the partition boot sector for a clean reinstallation, dd'ing the disk with zero for a couple of Mbytes is more than enough. -- Hakan (m1fcj) - http://www.hititgunesi.org ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
-Original Message- From: centos-boun...@centos.org [mailto:centos-boun...@centos.org] On Behalf Of Hakan Koseoglu Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 2:54 PM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? If you want to securely remove the data, I recommend using a tool like DBAN. If you want to just wipe out the partition boot sector for a clean reinstallation, dd'ing the disk with zero for a couple of Mbytes is more than enough. I second that. Dban is the niftiest thing since sliced bread. Very handy tool, if a bit slow. But I guess that comes with the territory. 8-) -- /Sorin smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
On 4 March 2010 14:01, Sorin Srbu sorin.s...@orgfarm.uu.se wrote: I second that. Dban is the niftiest thing since sliced bread. Very handy tool, if a bit slow. But I guess that comes with the territory. 8-) The ATA Secure Erase command is generally faster but more difficult - see http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase Ben ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
-Original Message- From: centos-boun...@centos.org [mailto:centos-boun...@centos.org] On Behalf Of Benjamin Donnachie Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:11 PM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd On 4 March 2010 14:01, Sorin Srbu sorin.s...@orgfarm.uu.se wrote: I second that. Dban is the niftiest thing since sliced bread. Very handy tool, if a bit slow. But I guess that comes with the territory. 8-) The ATA Secure Erase command is generally faster but more difficult - see http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase The advantage with Dban is IMO it's simplicity, just boot it from CD, choose wiping method and let it rip. After a few hours it's done. In the ATA Secure Erase case, is two minutes the time it takes to erase a harddrive? I'm not that knowledgable erasing stuff this way. -- /Sorin smime.p7s Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
From: chloe K chloekcy2...@yahoo.ca What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? ls fdisk ok or use dd Maybe something like (replace the ?): - fast but not secure: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096 - slow but more secure: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096 - n times slower but n times more secure: for ((i=1; i=n; i++)); do dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096; done JD ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
Hi all What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? ls fdisk ok or use dd Can data be recovered? and what is the dd command? Thank you http://www.dban.org/ Default with boot and nuke is three (or is it four?) passes, but you can tell it full US DoD seven passes, which meets all US gov't requirements for data destruction, and no, you can't get it back. Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
From: John Doe jd...@yahoo.com From: chloe K What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk? ls fdisk ok or use dd Maybe something like (replace the ?): - fast but not secure: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096 - slow but more secure: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096 - n times slower but n times more secure: for ((i=1; i=n; i++)); do dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096; done Oops, for the slow procedures, it is /dev/random instead of /dev/zero... JD ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
Sorin Srbu wrote: I second that. Dban is the niftiest thing since sliced bread. Very handy tool, if a bit slow. But I guess that comes with the territory. 8-) DBAN runs at wire speed. Its just that disks with 100s or 1000s of gigabytes take a long long time to fully write. DBAN's default erase sequence is excessive for modern disks. the old DOD erase sequences were devised for media that used simple NRZ type encodings, with RLL encoding methods used by modern disks, they don't make any sense at all. all you really need is to write the disk with all 1s, then all 0s, and its about as good as it will get, not even CSI:Miami will find any actual data on it (of course, if the script writers need to, they'll invent data out of thin air). ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
Sorin Srbu wrote: I second that. Dban is the niftiest thing since sliced bread. Very handy tool, if a bit slow. But I guess that comes with the territory. 8-) DBAN runs at wire speed. Its just that disks with 100s or 1000s of gigabytes take a long long time to fully write. DBAN's default erase sequence is excessive for modern disks. the old DOD erase sequences were devised for media that used simple NRZ type encodings, with RLL encoding methods used by modern disks, they don't make any sense at all. all you really need is to write the disk with all 1s, then all 0s, and its about as good as it will get, not even CSI:Miami will find any actual data on it (of course, if the script writers need to, they'll invent data out of thin air). That may be the case, but the laws and regulations still want that level of security, due to the regular one of our people lost a laptop/it was stolen, and 7 zillion PII* got stolen!!! mark yes, I am working for the gov't * PII - personal identity information ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
John Doe wrote:
From: chloe K chloekcy2...@yahoo.ca
What is the best practice to remove all data in the disk?
ls fdisk ok or use dd
Maybe something like (replace the ?):
- fast but not secure:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096
- slow but more secure:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096
What is the difference between the above two commands?
Did I miss something?
- n times slower but n times more secure:
for ((i=1; i=n; i++)); do dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/?d? bs=4096; done
I don't know what n times more secure means. Could you
please explain? Does that mean that, with n times as much
work, one can still recover the information?
Mike
--
p=p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);};main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
Oppose globalization and One World Governments like the UN.
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
___
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@centos.org
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote:
[...]
Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that
you could disassemble the disks and use thermite.
Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case.
Mike
--
p=p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);};main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
Oppose globalization and One World Governments like the UN.
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
___
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@centos.org
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
John Doe wrote:
Oops, for the slow procedures, it is /dev/random instead of /dev/zero...
Ah, ok, disregard the other message.
Mike
--
p=p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);};main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
Oppose globalization and One World Governments like the UN.
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
___
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@centos.org
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote:
I wrote
[...]
Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that
you could disassemble the disks and use thermite.
Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case.
I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me,
about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some
data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point.
mark and make nice flames and melting metal
I belive modern discs are brittle, and will shatter, not bend.
Thermite would certainly do the trick. Might get you in trouble
with local hazard control laws, though. It might melt concrete,
so don't do it on your driveway.
Mike
--
p=p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);};main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
Oppose globalization and One World Governments like the UN.
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!
___
CentOS mailing list
CentOS@centos.org
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: That may be the case, but the laws and regulations still want that level of security, due to the regular one of our people lost a laptop/it was stolen, and 7 zillion PII* got stolen!!! mark yes, I am working for the gov't the oft-quoted 1995 vintage DoD 5220-22m standard of writing 1010, 0101, , then repeating three times was deprecated from the 2001 edition of the same document. the NIST has a document on data destruction, too... http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_rev1.pdf where table 2-1 says a single overwrite is quite sufficient on most of today's media... For truly secure data erasure, shread the drives in a chipper, its faster and cheaper.NIST defines three levels, 'clear', 'purge', and 'destroy'. clear is simply writing a random pattern over the data. 'purge' is degaussing the media, which renders it permanently unusuable with any modern disk, so you might as well grind/incinerate/etc the drives. I like the bit on page 32 of that document telling the telecommuter how to smash a drive with a hammer if he doesn't have access to proper equipment. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. in the 80s, disks held 10-20MB per 5.25 platter. now they hold 300MB per 2 or 3 platter. in the 80s, bits were written with simple MFM NRZI type recording techniques and the tracks were at absolute locations. Today, the data is written with high density predictive RLL techniques and embedded servo that said, my work has a policy of shreading/chipping/incincerating all old media. any other sort of erasure/clearing is far too time consuming and labor intensive.the old tapes, drives, etc are stored in a secure room, and once in awhile a data destruction truck comes by, and its all tossed into a giant chipper and comes out as ground scrap metal. ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: I wrote [...] Alternatively, the answer on another techie mailing list I'm on is that you could disassemble the disks and use thermite. Just a hammer, no need to disassemble the case. I dunno, a buddy who was in army intel back in the early eighties told me, about 10 years ago, that they could flatten out the platters and read some data. Thermite not only melts the platters, but will hit the Curie point. mark and make nice flames and melting metal I belive modern discs are brittle, and will shatter, not bend. Thermite would certainly do the trick. Might get you in trouble with local hazard control laws, though. It might melt concrete, so don't do it on your driveway. Bucket full o' sand - that's what they used the last day of my 11th grade chem class, lo, these many years ago. g mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Re: [CentOS] help fdisk and dd
m.r...@5-cent.us wrote: That may be the case, but the laws and regulations still want that level of security, due to the regular one of our people lost a laptop/it was stolen, and 7 zillion PII* got stolen!!! mark yes, I am working for the gov't But not the DoD, let me say. the oft-quoted 1995 vintage DoD 5220-22m standard of writing 1010, 0101, , then repeating three times was deprecated from the 2001 edition of the same document. Haven't read that, but I was told seven passes. the NIST has a document on data destruction, too... http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_rev1.pdf where table 2-1 says a single overwrite is quite sufficient on most of today's media... I'd trust the NIST. However, management is often some ways behind reality snip I like the bit on page 32 of that document telling the telecommuter how to smash a drive with a hammer if he doesn't have access to proper equipment. They were *supposed* to do that on the plane that the Chinese got in what, '01? mark ___ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
