[GRLUG] Data wiping / recovery / paranoia

[Bill Littlejohn]

A software disk wipe can be very effective.
I wipe all retired drives at my shop, and that's good enough.
BUT, effectiveness of data disposal not only depends on the technical 
details of recovery, but also on the existence of the media used. A 
wiped drive is a target for recovery. A destroyed drive is, well, gone.
It all depends on how important it is to you that the data is gone for 
good.
Although I don't recall the details, I remember reading recently of 
someone arrested for wiping a drive. I suppose the existence of a wiped 
drive is now proof of destruction of evidence and incriminating in itself.
That's disturbing enough to me that I don't want evidence of evidence. 
So to speak.
Suppose I upgrade my 40GB HDD for a shiny new 100GB 7200rpm beauty; I 
wipe my old HDD to ensure my SSN, bank records, passwords, etc are gone. 
Then I'm accused or implicated in torrenting movies, kiddie porn, 
terrorist activity, or whatever, and I'm sitting here with an obviously 
wiped drive?
I'm not really that paranoid, but I don't think it's a stretch either.
BL


Jorge La wrote:
> It's funny when you see dumb criminals. I was watching some TV show, 
> and this guy was trying to get ride of data on a floppy. Instead of 
> burning it, or even swiping it w/ a magnet, the guy ripped it apart.
>
> :-/
>
> he aparently didn't know that the FBI has something called glue. LOL.
>
> their's this linux command that writes over a drive w/ random number, 
> and then zeros. (i cant think of the name of the command :-/). woun't 
> that solve the prob then? cuz if every bit gets turned into a 0, u 
> cant recover anything :)
>
> On 9/14/06, *Kyle Smith* <kylewesleysmith at gmail.com 
> <mailto:kylewesleysmith at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On 9/14/06, Bill Littlejohn <billl at mtd-inc.com
>     <mailto:billl at mtd-inc.com>> wrote:
>     >
>     >  Aside from the entertainment factor, I fail to understand why
>     people insist
>     > on destroying the HDD assembly.
>     >  It's fairly simple to remove the platters, and they can be
>     dealt with much
>     > more effectively outside the enclosure.
>     >  Personally, I would use a degausser (because my shop has one)
>     but a regular
>     > home bench grinder should do the trick also.
>     >  Or, if you like to recycle, the platters are pure aluminum last
>     I knew.
>     > http://www.instructables.com/id/EC1S0WGQ8FEQHO8ZNQ/?ALLSTEPS
>     <http://www.instructables.com/id/EC1S0WGQ8FEQHO8ZNQ/?ALLSTEPS>
>     >
>     >  BL
>
>     There is no reason other than entertainment.
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