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I'm no encryption expert, but depending on how the data is partitioned it can be easier to securely prune encrypted data than unencrypted data. For example, se

• tyri_kai_psomi 7y ago
  If you wish to "securely" wipe an encrypted drive, it's best to write over the old data a few times using randomly generated keys, tossing the keys each time you do a write over.
  • dividuum 7y ago
    That sounds pointless. If you have real crypto, tossing the key (in a way that it cannot be recovered) is absolutely enough.
    • rhencke 7y ago
      It's not pointless - it's pretty standard practice. For example, although drives in Google Cloud are encrypted at rest, once they are decommissioned the drives are physically destroyed: https://cloud.google.com/security/deletion/#ensuring_safe_and_secure_media_sanitization https://cloud.google.com/security/deletion/#ensuring_safe_an...
      • dividuum 7y ago
        > When a hard drive is retired, authorized individuals verify that the disk is erased by overwriting the drive with zeros and performing a multi-step verification process to ensure the drive contains no data. Thanks. I guess the reason is to avoid future decryption due to either a new crypto attack or to avoid being vulnerable to potential errors in key generation.
  • LeoPanthera 7y ago
    This is massive overkill. Once is enough. If the drive is already encrypted, just wipe the key.