[Gllug] Disk Wipe

[Martin A. Brooks]

Hi john,

On Monday, May 24, 2004, john at sinodun.org.uk wrote:
>> On Monday 24 May 2004 12:11, Alain Williams wrote:
>>
>>> How secure do you want to be ? Or how sensitive is the data on the disk
>>> ?
>>>
>>> If it is to be proof against the average guy in the street or you are
>>> protecting non sensitive personal letters/..., then simply copying
>>> /dev/zero to the disk will be enough:
>>> 	dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda
>> Never do any secure-suppose-to-be operation based on zero filled files!
>> use random.

> The problem with using /dev/random is that it will take a ludicrously long
> time for any non-trivial hard disc.  You might manage to wipe a floppy
> that way, but that's about the limit.

That's why we have urandom.  Actually doing it that way would take
forever because you'd be writing 1 byte at a time.  Use the "bs="
option to change that to something sensible.



--
Martin A. Brooks, Clues Ltd.
http://www.clues.ltd.uk/

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