"dd writes through the MBR?"
The dd command that Neal taught me 2-3 years ago "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdc
bs=512 count=1" has done just that for me many times, I have not actually used
it for erasing the body of the disk yet but dd can be used to write write
almost (or maybe any) input file to any devi e or file as I understand. As
Anita Bryant never said " It's not just for floppies anymore!" (tee-hee). I'm
just trying to put a scale of use around some of the utilities and compare
them as far asresult goes. At first I suspected that shred did some sort of
calithenics using dd . Blotout.sh uses dd but it says advanced forensics could
recover data :
http://www.linuxvoodoo.com/resources/guides/abs-guide/extmisc.html#BLOTOUT
Is this true of shred? (Maybe this is a dumb question, I'm told to assume the
NSA can crack anything ) What do admins do when they just want to protect old
client info, and leave things open for law enforcement?
Damn I love to ask questions.
John F.
> On Sunday 27 March 2005 02:53 pm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> : This thread comes close to explaining a few things I've wondered about for
> : a while plus brings up a new definition for low level formatting that seems
> : way beyond anything I can see useful. Q1)
>
> While I havnt LLF'd a drive in quite a while, its one way to restore a disk
> that may be failing, or has had problems in the past. LLF utilities will
> (should) detect errors and either mark them bad, or replace them with "spare
> blocks".
> Many manufacturers have LLF utilities for thier drives, but other LLF
> utilities may work too.
>
> : " Important drive information (servo, sector layout, and defect
> : management, etc.) is stored in the low-level format at the
> : factory. This information is designed to last the life of the
> : drive and therefore it is not possible to low level the drive
> : outside the factory. " So this is not what nyal wants to do?
>
> Ive never heard of a disk platter containing "servo" or "sector layout"
> information... I bet info (if there is such a thing) is contained in rom.
>
> : If someone really could do this why would they find it useful to do so?
> : And can linui read the info?
> : Q2) Does Powermax just diagnose disk integrity?, or does it does what the
> : quote in "Q1)" describes storing it in a way that is designed to last the
> : life of the drive? Or store in in another way. The compatabilty specs for
> : the software only admit to compatability with $M oses If this is something
> : that can show linux where it can write to and where it can not it would be
> : very useful to me.
>
> I dont know if Ive used powermax, but I do have some maxtor drives, and they
> come with a cd with the utilities and stuff, but those programs run under
> windows (or dos mode). The CD I have is bootable... just pop it in the drive,
> and reboot the comptuer... (note: this may totally wipe everything on the
> drive... use proper caution)
>
> :
> : Q3)Shred sounds excellent for removing all traces of previous files, but
> : 25X?, isn't that overkill?
>
> is a LLF utility overkill? Heres a website that may help you with shred, and
> whats overkill/not overkill.
>
> http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000473036054/
>
>
> :
> : Q4) I've heard it suggested that 4x through using the dd command to write
> : zeros through the mbr to the end of the drive is enough hide sensitive old
> : files, how true is that?
>
> dd writes through the MBR?
>
> :
> : I thank any who are patient enough to answer any or all of the above.
> :
> : John W Fleming
> :
> :
> :
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>
> --
> People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
> -- Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel
>
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