Greetings,
Conspiracy theorists would say that the NIST supports one pass wipes because their counterparts at NSA can recover data if its only been wiped once. -)
-David
😉 British Govt Standards might support that theory ! For lower grade stuff, it's a single overwrite - for higher grade - three.
1. If it has a floppy drive just use Boot and Nuke or KillDisk.
2. If there is no floppy you can wipe from CD using
3. If you don't want to do that get a
4. Or you can just have them shredded
5. Or you can get a hard disk hole puncher
Another tuppence worth-
No names and no pack drill but an organisation that I worked for decided that degaussing was the way forward. I believe that they intended to reinstall the operating systems and recycle the computers into the community - most laudable.
Unfortunately the effects were not quite as anticipated as the hard discs were permanently magnetised by the process - not just the discs but the cases and all the components too! You could use the hard discs as fridge adornments afterwards.
To make it slighty worse it appears that the field 'leaked' somewhat and affected the hard discs in the computers around it, shame it was an IT storage area.
And the fun didn't end there - the field was not two dimensional, rather it was three dimensional - shame about the senior management team's office being just one floor below.
Still it worked and it was adjudged a success - strangely though the procedure was never actually used after the first day.
Try it yourself - I may be able to put you in touch with an organisation that has a powerful degausser they are not using just at the moment -)
To make it slighty worse it appears that the field 'leaked' somewhat and affected the hard discs in the computers around it, shame it was an IT storage area.
And the fun didn't end there - the field was not two dimensional, rather it was three dimensional - shame about the senior management team's office being just one floor below.
Maybe it could be interesting to know who was the actual producer of the degausser, there are regulations worldwide about the maximum intensity of magnetic field you can have outside the machine, and from what you describe, your past company also needed to have a special arrangement for the power company, it must have been in the MW range of power consumption!
Or maybe they invented without knowing it the ultimate technology death-ray. 😯
Normally a magnetic field of the type generated by commercial hard disk/tapes degausser has (besides being shielded) a range of a few centimeters outside the actual machine, even in the "swipe over the top" models.
A field of 5000 to 25000 Gauss at the most is generated, (and as said the most powerful models are shielded) and the only precaution asked to users is not to wear watches or rings etc. made of ferrous material and stay clear of it if you wear a pace-maker. (we are talking of machines with up to 15 at 250 VAC)
Comeon, with a field capable of going through the ceiling and damage magnetic storage at the upper floor ALL staples/pins in the building would have been shot through doors and walls to the degausser!
jaclaz
Half of senior management would be dead at some of my clients with such machines…
Their pacemakers would have been toasted . . .
As we all know, no senior partnership is given in a decent financial or law firm, unless you have at least one part of your body augmented for stress. mrgreen
As we all know, no senior partnership is given in a decent financial or law firm, unless you have at least one part of your body augmented for stress. mrgreen
Apparently, that part not necessarily being the heart (or brain) wink
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😯
jaclaz
The degauss unit in GlosSteveC's post would appear to be more of an high power EMP generator with either no shielding or very poor shielding.
I still recall testing magnetic fields on high powered speakers to erase / corrupt plain floppy disks. For the unit to go through floors and walls (assuming commercial building) and a range over 40 feet seems highly improbable.
My 2¢
P.S.
A quick google search turned up a commercial NSA approved degauser that outputs a max of 22,000 gaus. (BIG unit)
The power requirements are not small.
Power Supply 230 volts 50Hz or 115v 60Hz
Current Rating 50Hz 10 Amps, 60Hz 16 amps
http//
If you've ever turned up the volume on a tape player and were still able to listen to music you'd already erased, you experienced the information sitting between tracks. And that was with the play head still in the middle of the track. Yes - HDDs heads are much more discrete - but …
Anyone who used a "cats eye" and tools to set up tracking on an IBM full sized disk drive will have a clear physical picture of the idea of setting track 0 to be 0.5 - either physically, or in firmware.
If I were, let's say, someone wanting to get data off an erased drive, I'd set the firmware to make track 0 = 0.5 and start reading.
I've discussed this approach with folks from several "3 letter" agencies, and had neither a confirmation, nor a denial of the validity of the approach - only a couple of smiles.
There's a reason why the procedure in some of the labs near me is to physically take out the platters, scape them, then shred the whole thing, then bury it on site.
I'm more of the multiple pass persuasion - at least. My own drives? Gutman wipe, then the "Thor" process …
Yes, which is why I specified venting . . .
No, no. If you're so foolish as to not vent the gases, it's a safety concern.
If you vent the gases, it's now an environmental concern. Some government agencies might take issue with you venting the gases to the outside.
Unless you do it for the government. mrgreen
Yes, which is why I specified venting . . .
No, no. If you're so foolish as to not vent the gases, it's a safety concern.
If you vent the gases, it's now an environmental concern. Some government agencies might take issue with you venting the gases to the outside.