Securely deleting *Windows* files (was Re: simple way to securely destroy deleted files in a file system)
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From: Ron Johnson on 16 Jul 2010 12:10 On 07/15/2010 11:05 AM, H.S. wrote: > > I have a couple of hard disks in a computer which is to be recycled. I > want the windows OS in it to remain functional, but I want to be sure > that I have deleted all my personal files securely (never used the OS > that much anyway and there is hardly any important info in its registry > or browser). There are a number of documents that were deleted in > Windows the usual way (Shift+del) and I just want to make them > unrecoverable. > Aren't you askig the wrong list? -- Seek truth from facts. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4C40821B.3050400(a)cox.net
From: H.S. on 16 Jul 2010 12:20 On 10-07-16 12:00 PM, Ron Johnson wrote: > > Aren't you askig the wrong list? > The filesystem is vfat, files are being deleted from within Linux using Linux tools and the partition just happens to be a Windows installation* but could be any generic storage device. So, no. I presume you are implying that I ask on a Windows list. Please correct me if I am wrong. If I am not, it would be the wrong list to ask about using dd to delete files, unless dd is developed, or at least also being supported, by MS. * yes, I am aware of the OS holding some information. But if you read my original post (and the one after that) carefully, the scope of the security is quite limited. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/i1q09o$57p$1(a)dough.gmane.org
From: Ron Johnson on 16 Jul 2010 13:10 On 07/16/2010 11:10 AM, H.S. wrote: > On 10-07-16 12:00 PM, Ron Johnson wrote: >> >> Aren't you askig the wrong list? >> > > The filesystem is vfat, files are being deleted from within Linux using > Linux tools and the partition just happens to be a Windows installation* > but could be any generic storage device. So, no. > > I presume you are implying that I ask on a Windows list. Please correct > me if I am wrong. If I am not, it would be the wrong list to ask about > using dd to delete files, unless dd is developed, or at least also being > supported, by MS. > I don't think you can of= just the "empty" parts of your partition. Attached is a Python script I use to "zero" out the free space of a mounted partition. -- Seek truth from facts.
From: H.S. on 16 Jul 2010 13:40 On 16/07/10 01:01 PM, Ron Johnson wrote: > > I don't think you can of= just the "empty" parts of your partition. > > Attached is a Python script I use to "zero" out the free space of a > mounted partition. > Thanks for the script. You are basically writing 0xFF to the available disk space. I used to have a C program which just did a similar thing, writing 0x00 to a new file till the disk was full (or almost full). I just deleted that file after I ran the program. This helped to compress an image of the disk (using dd) quite nicely since all zeros give a better compression ratio. Having said that, why would dd not work the same way when I am writing to a file using "of" on the partition in question? -- Please reply to this list only. I read this list on its corresponding newsgroup on gmane.org. Replies sent to my email address are just filtered to a folder in my mailbox and get periodically deleted without ever having been read. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/i1q5f3$md3$1(a)dough.gmane.org
From: Ron Johnson on 16 Jul 2010 14:30
On 07/16/2010 12:38 PM, H.S. wrote: > On 16/07/10 01:01 PM, Ron Johnson wrote: >> >> I don't think you can of= just the "empty" parts of your partition. >> >> Attached is a Python script I use to "zero" out the free space of a >> mounted partition. >> > > Thanks for the script. You are basically writing 0xFF to the available > disk space. I used to have a C program which just did a similar thing, > writing 0x00 to a new file till the disk was full (or almost full). I > just deleted that file after I ran the program. This helped to compress > an image of the disk (using dd) quite nicely since all zeros give a > better compression ratio. > > Having said that, why would dd not work the same way when I am writing > to a file using "of" on the partition in question? > Yeah, I guess you could write a bash script to: 1. determine the amount of free space. 2. Divide that by some efficient block size. 3. dd if=/dev/urandom of=${VFAT}/foo.bar \ obs=${BLKSIZ} count=${BLKCNT} -- Seek truth from facts. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-REQUEST(a)lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster(a)lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/4C40A42E.6020005(a)cox.net |