Securely Destroying Data is it truely secure?

Alright so I have taken interest in hard drive deletion. So far from what I have seen the Guttmann uses 35 passes to permanently destroy data but is that true? or is the DoD 5200.28 much better even though its 3 passes?

Is there any means of obtaining that data regardless of the amount of passes or does it depend on the algorithm? I have a hard drive I want to dispose of as its contained my resumes, bank information, taxes and ROE's at one point or another.

What is the best algorithm besides using a hammer?

(Sorry I thought I had using* placed in my post)

 

A hammer is not an algorithm.

 

A simple "1 pass zero's" will do the job. Afterwards, software isn't enough to recover it.
Any miscreants will need a High Magnetic Force Scanning Tunneling Microscope to make images at molecular level and then a supercomputer to process and analyze the data of those images.
Success is very, very unlikely with modern ultra high density hdd's, even with the equipment mentioned, writes 'HDD recovery guru' Guttman.
(Read the last paragraph above 'Acknowledgements').

Killdisk or DBAN; one-pass zero; No worries.

 

++

Make sure the entire disk space is overwritten once and you're good.

 

If you really need to destroy data - melt it - I wouldn't trust a hammer as you'll have fragments left over - which individually still carry a lot of data.

 

An algorithm is an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and many other fields.

Using a hammer to permanently destroy a disk can be considered an Algorithm. I am not going to bother getting into physics or mathematics of such instructions.

Step 1: Remove Disk from laptop.
Step 2: Place Disk Drive on secure surface.
Step 3: Raise arm in air and exert a downward force aiming towards the Disk Drive assuring the hammer makes contact with the Hard Disk.

Step 4: Repeat Step 3 until Hard Disk in remnants.
Step 5. Dispose of the shattered parts, via trash or fire pit for added security.

Well I don't have much to hide other than tax documents, work history and such. I am not sure if a common "bad" hacker can retrieve my data if its in pieces. I mean if it was a clandestine agency or a police agency with a limitless budget then yea they most definitely can but I dont have anything illegal to hide.

Burning it may be abit overboard but I see your point.

 

Just loan your computer to my niece--she can mess up a computer so it is unrecognizable faster than any human being on the planet.

 

$immond$, you can be hilarious. :laugh:

At any rate, as mentioned earlier, one pass should be sufficient. If you're truly worried, I'm sure you could set it up for multiple passes, but as long as all the data is written over, I don't think it would be easy, if at all possible, for most users to obtain the data.

 

Firecrackers may work as well.

I didn't state it was mandatory rule lol, if your paranoid that the government is out to get you I suppose you could also throw the parts in a volcano or to try to ingest the drive but I wouldn't do either.

I always did 3-7 passes when I sold one of my computers, just to be safe ( DoD 5220.22-M) but I heard with computer forensics tools its still possible to extract data.

I could always do an extreme amount of passes say...

Over 9000!!!

 

you did say hard drive but for SSD's
(this was in the SSD thread but no answer)
just been reading this
Erasing USB key Drives
does this apply to SSD's? would there be a way to safely and securely clean free space in an SSD?

 

Well, if you have TRIM or Garbage Collection then most likely yes... but if you use CCleaner you can erase empty space - and one pass is enough for flash memory.

 

That wear leveling stuff is a problem when it comes to overwriting individual files, but if the the drive's free space is filled to the brim with data all deleted stuff will be overwritten since there is no other place for it to hide.
Most secure deletion apps work that way (dunno about Eraser, I use sdelete), so the only thing you may or may not have to worry about is the additional write cycles on the memory cells.