On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 1:32 AM, Dan Egli <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hey, someone was asking me if there was a secure erase program for Linux > (something like Norton's WipeInfo, for example). I've heard of wiping files > by writing some random info out of /dev/random onto the file, but I've > never heard of a specific program that would do that for Linux. Does anyone > here know of one? I'm curious now. :) > > > hdparm can use ATA commands on the hard drive's firmware to securely erase hard drives. https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase This is usually superior to most hard drive erasing programs because: 1. It erases ALL sectors of a hard drive. If a hard drive is erased by a software program by zeroing sectors, or writing random data, then any sector marked by the hard drive firmware as bad WON'T be erased. 2. It's faster and uses less resources. Because the hard drive firmware is erasing the drive's contents, no CPU cycles or onboard bus is used. 3. It is one of 3 basic ways to destroy hard drive data in a NIST compliant manner. The common 3 pass random data DoD standard is outdated and has been retracted (because of not erasing bad sectors) See: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_with-errata.pdf Unfortunately, there are some problems with this method; only ATA hard drives have this feature, USB cables and RAID cards may have problems. Your mileage may vary. See the wiki article for more info. -Jason /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
