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Re: PC disk wipe software
On 9 Oct 95 at 13:59, [email protected] wrote regarding Re: PC disk
wipe software:
> On Mon, 9 Oct 1995, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>
> > I thought I'd ask here, since its related to a lot of the stuff
> > people have written for the PC platform in these parts. I need to
> > securely wipe a bunch of data from an MS-DOS hard drive, so that
> > it can't be recovered. Are there any readily available utilities
> > for this? Will any of them selectively erase only data that isn't
> > allocated to existing files?
> >
> > Perry
There are several file, directory and/or disk erasing utilities on
the web and commercial area today.
Shred is located on WEB in some of the Simtel Libraries. It will not
only delete the file from the directory, but it writes zeros over the
data itself, including all of the fragments left at the end of the
file's cluster. It also will write over the free space left on the
disk as well. It performs this operation only once per execution.
Another "wipe" software is "Real Deal.zip". It's virtue is that is
writes a series of patterns to the disk depending upon the level of
security you request. It can remain memory resident, intercepting all
DOS delete requests and write over at least 5 times with different
patterns the data your deleting. Watch how much longer a delete takes
if your at the" Real Dewd" level. There are a couple of utilities from
Norton, etc. that will perform a higher level of wiping. Including
the entire disk, directories, etc. The will write several more times
that either RealDeal.zip (Real Delete) or Shred.
The last time I saw, the government 'standard' for "wiping" its own sensitive data was at least fifteen times with different patterns. How secure your erased disk will stand up to a concerted effort by law
enforcement, NSA or someone truly looking for what's on your disk
remains questionable at best. But to the average person both Shred or RealDeal is
good enough to keep your wife's attorney, your roommate, co-worker or your girl friend out of
your personal communique's.
Remember too, that word processors and other software write all over you
disk and that its' probable that fragments of data that you wish to
delete are attached to or in other files.
J.E. Davidow
[email protected]
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