Erasing data from harddrive

Fred wrote:
> Hello,
> I am looking for the recommendation of utilty erasing data from
> harddrive.
> I need the utilty which:
> 1. Will NOT stop on errors (disk write errors) but it will continue until
> all disk is done
> or
> 2. Will allow me to choose sectors to overwrite.
> Thanks,
> Fred
>
>

SecureErase uses a disk erase command in the drive command set.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

*******

The use of dd_rescue is suggested here. dd_rescue is a version of
dd (Unix Disk Dump) that works around storage devices having errors.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk

I downloaded the Diaz version from here. A very small file, something
you'd build in Linux.

http://download.savannah.gnu.org/rel...ue-1.8.tar.bz2

This is a comment from the documentation file of that GNU dd_rescue,
in the ddrescue.info file.

"Example 2:

Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable sectors).
This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is specially
useful when sending the drive back to the manufacturer for warranty
replacement.

ddrescue --fill=+ /dev/zero bad_drive logfile"

So potentially, that is another method to do it.

dd_rescue is also a potential way of verifying the erasure. You
could wipe the drive with zeros first, then attempt data recovery
with dd_rescue in the forward direction, and scan the resulting
output for non-zero data. That would tell you whether any readable
sectors remained.

Any apparent issue with any data erasure method, is the Host Protected
Area. Any disk erasing solutions I've seen, make no promises that they
can properly deal with an HPA. So extra care must be exercised in that
case. Detection of HPA is mentioned here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area

I haven't tried any of the above. Good luck.

Paul

And the really stupid thing is that in the US, an eraser program is
considered illegal by non computer literate judges!
After all, if you have such a program, it is assumed that you have it for an
illegal purpose, such as maintaining your rights to privacy and security of
your personal papers, etc. (A right that the government has chipped away at
for decades.)

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:h7a08r$hpu$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> Fred wrote:
>> Hello,
>> I am looking for the recommendation of utilty erasing data
>> from harddrive.
>> I need the utilty which:
>> 1. Will NOT stop on errors (disk write errors) but it will continue until
>> all disk is done
>> or
>> 2. Will allow me to choose sectors to overwrite.
>> Thanks,
>> Fred
>
> SecureErase uses a disk erase command in the drive command set.
>
> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>
> *******
>
> The use of dd_rescue is suggested here. dd_rescue is a version of
> dd (Unix Disk Dump) that works around storage devices having errors.
>
> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk
>
> I downloaded the Diaz version from here. A very small file, something
> you'd build in Linux.
>
> http://download.savannah.gnu.org/rel...ue-1.8.tar.bz2
>
> This is a comment from the documentation file of that GNU dd_rescue,
> in the ddrescue.info file.
>
> "Example 2:
>
> Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
> This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable
> sectors).
> This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is specially
> useful when sending the drive back to the manufacturer for warranty
> replacement.
>
> ddrescue --fill=+ /dev/zero bad_drive logfile"
>
> So potentially, that is another method to do it.
>
> dd_rescue is also a potential way of verifying the erasure. You
> could wipe the drive with zeros first, then attempt data recovery
> with dd_rescue in the forward direction, and scan the resulting
> output for non-zero data. That would tell you whether any readable
> sectors remained.
>
> Any apparent issue with any data erasure method, is the Host Protected
> Area. Any disk erasing solutions I've seen, make no promises that they
> can properly deal with an HPA. So extra care must be exercised in that
> case. Detection of HPA is mentioned here.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area
>
> I haven't tried any of the above. Good luck.
>
> Paul

Citation?

Chuck wrote:
> And the really stupid thing is that in the US, an eraser program is
> considered illegal by non computer literate judges!
> After all, if you have such a program, it is assumed that you have it
> for an illegal purpose, such as maintaining your rights to privacy
> and security of your personal papers, etc. (A right that the
> government has chipped away at for decades.)
>
> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
> news:h7a08r$hpu$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> Fred wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> I am looking for the recommendation of utilty erasing
>>> data from harddrive.
>>> I need the utilty which:
>>> 1. Will NOT stop on errors (disk write errors) but it will continue
>>> until all disk is done
>>> or
>>> 2. Will allow me to choose sectors to overwrite.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Fred
>>
>> SecureErase uses a disk erase command in the drive command set.
>>
>> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>>
>> *******
>>
>> The use of dd_rescue is suggested here. dd_rescue is a version of
>> dd (Unix Disk Dump) that works around storage devices having errors.
>>
>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk
>>
>> I downloaded the Diaz version from here. A very small file, something
>> you'd build in Linux.
>>
>> http://download.savannah.gnu.org/rel...ue-1.8.tar.bz2
>>
>> This is a comment from the documentation file of that GNU dd_rescue,
>> in the ddrescue.info file.
>>
>> "Example 2:
>>
>> Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
>> This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable
>> sectors).
>> This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is
>> specially useful when sending the drive back to the manufacturer
>> for warranty replacement.
>>
>> ddrescue --fill=+ /dev/zero bad_drive logfile"
>>
>> So potentially, that is another method to do it.
>>
>> dd_rescue is also a potential way of verifying the erasure. You
>> could wipe the drive with zeros first, then attempt data recovery
>> with dd_rescue in the forward direction, and scan the resulting
>> output for non-zero data. That would tell you whether any readable
>> sectors remained.
>>
>> Any apparent issue with any data erasure method, is the Host
>> Protected Area. Any disk erasing solutions I've seen, make no
>> promises that they can properly deal with an HPA. So extra care must
>> be exercised in that case. Detection of HPA is mentioned here.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area
>>
>> I haven't tried any of the above. Good luck.
>>
>> Paul

"Daave" <daave@example.com> wrote:

>Citation?

What Daave said.

>Chuck wrote:
>> And the really stupid thing is that in the US, an eraser program is
>> considered illegal by non computer literate judges!
>> After all, if you have such a program, it is assumed that you have it
>> for an illegal purpose, such as maintaining your rights to privacy
>> and security of your personal papers, etc. (A right that the
>> government has chipped away at for decades.)
>>
>> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
>> news:h7a08r$hpu$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Fred wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>> I am looking for the recommendation of utilty erasing
>>>> data from harddrive.
>>>> I need the utilty which:
>>>> 1. Will NOT stop on errors (disk write errors) but it will continue
>>>> until all disk is done
>>>> or
>>>> 2. Will allow me to choose sectors to overwrite.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Fred
>>>
>>> SecureErase uses a disk erase command in the drive command set.
>>>
>>> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>>>
>>> *******
>>>
>>> The use of dd_rescue is suggested here. dd_rescue is a version of
>>> dd (Unix Disk Dump) that works around storage devices having errors.
>>>
>>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk
>>>
>>> I downloaded the Diaz version from here. A very small file, something
>>> you'd build in Linux.
>>>
>>> http://download.savannah.gnu.org/rel...ue-1.8.tar.bz2
>>>
>>> This is a comment from the documentation file of that GNU dd_rescue,
>>> in the ddrescue.info file.
>>>
>>> "Example 2:
>>>
>>> Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
>>> This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable
>>> sectors).
>>> This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is
>>> specially useful when sending the drive back to the manufacturer
>>> for warranty replacement.
>>>
>>> ddrescue --fill=+ /dev/zero bad_drive logfile"
>>>
>>> So potentially, that is another method to do it.
>>>
>>> dd_rescue is also a potential way of verifying the erasure. You
>>> could wipe the drive with zeros first, then attempt data recovery
>>> with dd_rescue in the forward direction, and scan the resulting
>>> output for non-zero data. That would tell you whether any readable
>>> sectors remained.
>>>
>>> Any apparent issue with any data erasure method, is the Host
>>> Protected Area. Any disk erasing solutions I've seen, make no
>>> promises that they can properly deal with an HPA. So extra care must
>>> be exercised in that case. Detection of HPA is mentioned here.
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area
>>>
>>> I haven't tried any of the above. Good luck.
>>>
>>> Paul
>

"Daave" <daave@example.com> wrote in message
news:%2313UGivMKHA.3192@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl
> Citation?

There is no citation because the claim if patently wrong. There are
hundreds, if not thousands, of delete/wipe/overwrite/etc. programs
available on the 'net.
Wherever the information came from is incorrect unless the machine
is under a current legal order, in which case it would be confiscated.
I suspect something is missing from the translation.

Twayne`

>
> Chuck wrote:
>> And the really stupid thing is that in the US, an eraser program is
>> considered illegal by non computer literate judges!
>> After all, if you have such a program, it is assumed that you have it
>> for an illegal purpose, such as maintaining your rights to privacy
>> and security of your personal papers, etc. (A right that the
>> government has chipped away at for decades.)
>>
>> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
>> news:h7a08r$hpu$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> Fred wrote:
>>>> Hello,
>>>> I am looking for the recommendation of utilty erasing
>>>> data from harddrive.
>>>> I need the utilty which:
>>>> 1. Will NOT stop on errors (disk write errors) but it will continue
>>>> until all disk is done
>>>> or
>>>> 2. Will allow me to choose sectors to overwrite.
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Fred
>>>
>>> SecureErase uses a disk erase command in the drive command set.
>>>
>>> http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
>>>
>>> *******
>>>
>>> The use of dd_rescue is suggested here. dd_rescue is a version of
>>> dd (Unix Disk Dump) that works around storage devices having errors.
>>>
>>> http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/Damaged_Hard_Disk
>>>
>>> I downloaded the Diaz version from here. A very small file,
>>> something you'd build in Linux.
>>>
>>> http://download.savannah.gnu.org/rel...ue-1.8.tar.bz2
>>>
>>> This is a comment from the documentation file of that GNU dd_rescue,
>>> in the ddrescue.info file.
>>>
>>> "Example 2:
>>>
>>> Wipe only the good sectors, leaving the bad sectors alone.
>>> This way, the drive will still test bad (i.e., with unreadable
>>> sectors).
>>> This is the fastest way of wiping a failing drive, and is
>>> specially useful when sending the drive back to the manufacturer
>>> for warranty replacement.
>>>
>>> ddrescue --fill=+ /dev/zero bad_drive logfile"
>>>
>>> So potentially, that is another method to do it.
>>>
>>> dd_rescue is also a potential way of verifying the erasure. You
>>> could wipe the drive with zeros first, then attempt data recovery
>>> with dd_rescue in the forward direction, and scan the resulting
>>> output for non-zero data. That would tell you whether any readable
>>> sectors remained.
>>>
>>> Any apparent issue with any data erasure method, is the Host
>>> Protected Area. Any disk erasing solutions I've seen, make no
>>> promises that they can properly deal with an HPA. So extra care must
>>> be exercised in that case. Detection of HPA is mentioned here.
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area
>>>
>>> I haven't tried any of the above. Good luck.
>>>
>>> Paul

<snipped>

Twayne wrote:
> There is no citation because the claim if patently wrong.
<snipped>

Something being incorrect does not keep it from having a source to be cited
from. ;-)

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

"Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e4VryA9MKHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl
> <snipped>
>
> Twayne wrote:
>> There is no citation because the claim if patently wrong.
> <snipped>
>
> Something being incorrect does not keep it from having a source to be
> cited from. ;-)

Yeahhhh, technically that's true and you're right. "Citation" in that
context just seemed to give some sort of credit where I don't consider
the source of bad information as being worthy of any kind of credit,
just in case someone misread it. My whole sentence probably shouldn't
even have been written there.

Cheers,

Twayne`

>
> --
> Shenan Stanley
> MS-MVP

As I understand it--
The government (state?, federal?) brought criminal charges (likely to do
with "kiddy porn")
No evidence of the prohibited matter was found on the accused's systems. The
presence of a popular erase program was found on the systems.
Therefore, the accused was "assumed" to be guilty by the judge, based upon
the presence of the erase program, and other circumstantial evidence.

I had hoped that the ruling & conviction would be appealed, since many use a
similar (or the same) program to cleanup a hard drive before defragging or
compacting.
One of the gov's laptop protection methods involved the use of such a
program. It was automatically started in silent mode if an incorrect user
login was repeated too many times in succession, or other intrusion attempts
were detected. In addition, parts of the laptop's HD were encrypted. (US
made(assembled) "special purpose" Laptops for "critical use"). The laptop
I'm referring to also had a magnesium alloy case, and, if exposed to a good
hot fire, burnt quite well.


"Twayne" <nobody@devnull.spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:u0%23w%23aKNKHA.1232@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Shenan Stanley" <newshelper@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:e4VryA9MKHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl
>> <snipped>
>>
>> Twayne wrote:
>>> There is no citation because the claim if patently wrong.
>> <snipped>
>>
>> Something being incorrect does not keep it from having a source to be
>> cited from. ;-)
>
> Yeahhhh, technically that's true and you're right. "Citation" in that
> context just seemed to give some sort of credit where I don't consider the
> source of bad information as being worthy of any kind of credit, just in
> case someone misread it. My whole sentence probably shouldn't even have
> been written there.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Twayne`
>
>>
>> --
>> Shenan Stanley
>> MS-MVP
>
>
>