[vox-tech] Most efficient way to wipe hard drives

[Ted Deppner]

use -q.  4 times instead of 34 (or -Q 1 depending on your desires).

As was already said, dd works fine for this in most all cases.  If you
really wanted security you'd destroy the HD with shaped charges or by
grinding to bits.  The apparent "need" to actually wipe an entire HD
indicates a poorly designed security process(es) in the first place,
or gross paranoia.

Look up "attack trees" by Schneier.  If an group had thousands of
dollars to spend, they'd social engineer you or steal a laptop when
you were at lunch.  If you really had data that valuable you'd already
have encrypted hard drives, no laptops, no thumb drives, metal
detectors, physical security, and grind up your equipment when it was
end-of-lifed.  Oh, and "no cost" wouldn't be an issue.

That said, I do wipe my hard drives, but a -q.  Nothing will stop a
determined attacker, or a government, but a wipe will keep prying eyes
from prying.

>> The requirements:
>> * No cost and is usable in a business
>> * Securely erase so well that no proprietary information can be
>> recovered, by say an experienced attacker with thousands of dollars to
>> spend on equipment
>> * Require a minimum of interaction (to free technicians to work on other tasks)