Disk wiping

[Bill Ridgeway]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for someone
to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to be
'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero writes
files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't possible to
write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

Thanks.

Bill Ridgeway

 

[DL]

Shread the cd/dvd?

 

[philo]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for someone
to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to be
'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero writes
files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't possible to
write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

They are quite cheap...
if you want security...break them up when you are done with them!

 

[smlunatick]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for someone
to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to be
'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero writes
files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't possible to
write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

Thanks.

Bill Ridgeway

The free software "Eraser" has such a secure disk wipe moduel (Disk
Nuke???)

As for CD, CD-Rs, DVDs and DVD Rs, break / shred them. These are only
"write once" medias and can not normally be erased. Some modern
document shredder now shred CDs / DVDs. Some also "criimp" the CD /
DVD surface.

CD-RWa and DVD RWs can also have 'Eraser" used on them.

 

[GS]

if you don't have CD/DVD shredder, for a lot of cd-r and DVD-r, all you
have to do to thoroughly destroy them is
take a sharp object to mark the top surface a few times randomly, apply
strong adhesive tape or label and then peel. Tthe information on the written
substrate would break up. making recovery quite impractical. if you still
are concerned, shred the label...

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for someone
to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to be
'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero writes
files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't possible to
write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

Why wipe them? Just break or shred them.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Noncompliant]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for
someone to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to
be 'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

Not 100% effective all the time.

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero
writes files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't
possible to write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Nero's INCD writes directly to CD/DVD.
Nero's write to CD/DVD in ISO format may be done directly, no temp files
needed.
Copying a CD/DVD, Nero may write a temp iso file, or if directed, write a
copy directly.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

Put CD/DVD face down on a rough sidewalk or similar surface. Place ball of
foot in the middle of the media. Attempt to make a hard 90 degree turn with
full body weight on that foot. Follow-up in the opposite direction.

Or, place in a 400F oven for 10 minutes.

Or, if you live in a rural area, place media in the burn pit.

Or, just leave write side up in direct sun for a week or so.

 

[JohnO]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for

Not 100% effective all the time.

Theoretically that's true, but a single pass is *absolutely* effective when
you consider what is required to get at the latent underlying data.

Getting at the old data requires removing the platters, and using
specialized read heads that can sense not only the strong magneting field
representing the 'wipe data' but also the far, far weaker magneting field
representing the old data. ...The existing heads read only the predominant
magnetic field representing the new data...the latent (old) data is
completely invisible by design. There isn't any software that can do this
because the hardware cannot allow it. (Imagine for a second having a drive
that gets confused by data that was supposedly over-written...no way can
Seagate/Hitachi/etc. let that happen.)

Best case, you have someone who can independently control the R/W head
positioning and sensing on a given drive and make it do things it wasn't
designed to do. Not easy, and no way is it cheap.

In the end, pulling data out of a wiped drive might be practical for the NSA
when they steal a hard drive from a Chinese or Russian satellite control
station, but what kind of regular snoop can afford to spend $50k+ for the
*possibility* of getting some poor slob's credit card numbers or e-mail? Not
likely.

As a real example of the difficulty required to read this kind of data, even
the FBI's IT forensics experts send drives to third parties when they need
to get at data that may be hidden under partitioned or partially-wiped
drives. (http://www.rcfl.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=Public.P_about)

So, if anyone out there has firsthand experience at retreiving data after a
single-pass wipe, I'd like to hear something about it. (my employer is
writing a book on the subject) Otherwise, maybe we can put an urban legend
to rest. ;-)

-John O

 

[JohnO]

magneting

Should be "magnetic." Sheesh.

-John O

 

[paulmd]

Formatting a hard drive does not (so I read) make it impossible for someone
to lift 'deleted' information. To do this the hard disk needs to be
'security wiped' (writing 0s and 1s all over the unused area).

CDs and DVDs are (arguable) more likely to contain information which,
because they are 'portable', is more important to make secure. Nero writes
files to temporary files before burning to disk so it isn't possible to
write directly to the CD - required to do a wipe.

Any suggestions how to security wipe CDs /DVDs please?

Thanks.

Bill Ridgeway

Microwave. It's also cool to watch.



Data destruction companies have a shredder that can handle them fine.