[v5, v6] Why is there a 35 pass method?

Overwriter

Overwriter

Active Member
The 35 pass Gutmann method was conceived at a time when very old technology pre early 1990’s was employed in hard drives. It was used to allow for the inaccuracy of writing heads fitted to those drives which could result in the head writing slightly to one side of the target data. The accuracy of header servo positioning mechanisms and the density of disk platters have increased exponentially since then. With this in mind it is generally considered the 35 pass Gutmann method is unnecessary. In fact Peter Gutmann himself says so !

The Gutmann methods inclusion in Erasers available overwrite patterns is for users who wish to erase extremely old hard drives and for nostalgic purposes. Anyone using this method today on a modern hard drive either doesn’t understand what they are doing or they are practising “Voodoo” security.
 
Given your earlier answer about 35 overwrites being obsolete what in your expert opinion is the best of the many overwrite options available in the V6 of Eraser and why? Is there anywhere I can read up on the comparison of the options? Thanks for your concise and expert input.
 
It's really your threat model -- who you're up against. If you are really paranoid you can use those with a larger pass number, but really there isn't a need for that as of now (the previous post.) You probably should spend that time finding temporary copies of files which you don't want, and erasing that as well as unused space on the drive
 
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