Most secure method?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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Hello, let me start by saying wonderful application you have here.

My question is; what in your opinion is the most secure method of wiping data, assuming time isn't a major factor?

DoD 5220-22.M (normal one, not the short one)
-or-
PRNG stream wipe

Thank you again.
 
he he, I'm in the process of selling a notebook computer.

I can see I got the answer I asked for..

So, I'll put it this way.. in your opinion at what number of rounds would prng surpass the dod's level of security?

or is it silly to ask such a question and just go with the dod?
 
he he, I'm in the process of selling a notebook computer.

I can see I got the answer I asked for..

So, I'll put it this way.. in your opinion at what number of rounds would prng surpass the dod's level of security?

or is it silly to ask such a question and just go with the dod?
 
Just go with the DoD method.

Arguments about the 'best' method are mostly academic because one pass of any pattern is enough to ensure privacy in most circumstances.
 
Overwrite more than 30 times with PRNG.
Data overwritten even 20 times can still be recovered (although techniques become more sophisticated and are not open to anyone; restricted to law enforcement and intelligence agencies normally).
For a review see here:
http://v4.livegate.net/wipe

greets, Anonymous
 
Overwrite more than 30 times with PRNG
Click to expand...

Overwriting with DoD 7 times is long enough (took about 4 days), overwriting with the PRNG method 30 times would take weeks, would it not?
 
it depends on who will try to attack you. if it's your brother, then take 1 pass, if it's some scriptkiddie, take 1 pass again. if your enemy has some cheap hardware for about $2500, then take 10 times. if you're paranoid and fear the 3letter-orgs, then take more than 30 or physically destroy it.
there's no best number of passes for PRNG, it must fit your needs.
at least you should know that 20 pass is not sufficient and that you can recover some data with very powerful techniques.
Certainly, I would not take DoD. Of course, with today's hard disk technology, DoD maybe enough, but I assume it makes more sense to do the equivalent random scrubbing.
 
btw, overwriting speed depends not only on your hard disk size, but also on your motherboard and controllers.
I almost have double the speed on my new drive compared to my old drive.
 
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