Jim wrote:
> erewhon came up with this when s/he headbutted the keyboard a moment ago in
> alt.computer.security:
>
>>> What about just one pass (because it simply *is* sufficient) with freely
>>> available tools?
>> Do you make this stuff up as you go along?!
>>
>> One pass is NOT sufficient to remove the data to a point at which it
> cannot
>> be recovered. It will fool most data reading tools, but certainly not
>> systematic, low level magnetic analysis of the platter. For that you need
> to
>> sufficiently break up the magnetic storage to the point there it is
>> indistinguishable from random fluctuations.
>>
>> One pass might stop your basic data scavenger - it sure as hell won't stop
>> the pro's.
>
> hence my mention of military grade formatting tools - which destroy the data
> to the point where it is practically impossible to recover anything even
> with the cleanest of cleanrooms and all the time in the world - assuming
> you even knew precisely what you were looking for.
>
> I'm a pro.

if you're a pro then i guess you know that the military physically
destroys any media that has ever contained data above a certain security
classification because they know that nothing you do with software will
achieve the data sanitation you allude to above...

--
"it's not the right time to be sober
now the idiots have taken over
spreading like a social cancer,
is there an answer?"