3 ms·

I don't think only writing zeros is considered safe, I mean it probably is for most purely software based recovery methods but I don't think it is for agencies

I don't think only writing zeros is considered safe, I mean it probably is for most purely software based recovery methods but I don't think it is for agencies with money to build the right hardware. Look into DoD 5220.22-M.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
voltagex_ 13y ago
for ATA disk drives manufactured after 2001 (over 15 GB) clearing by overwriting the media once is adequate to protect the media from both keyboard and laboratory attack. --NIST, 2006 - http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_with-errata.pdf http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-... (page 14) Found that while looking up the DoD standard, interesting stuff - thanks!
- matt_heimer 13y ago
  If you found that interesting you probably also like some of the research into sanitizing SSDs - https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/fast11/tech/tech.html#Wei https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/fast11/tech/tech.html#W...
Buge 13y ago
Recovery from an overwritten file has essentially never been done. Or if it has, it has been kept top secret. There was one study a long time ago where a few bits were recovered with some accuracy with an electron microscope, but it was from a really old hard drive with a much lower density than current ones. Those overwriting regulations are just in case such technology might get invented in the future.