From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jan 18 01:06:31 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5C96D16A41B for ; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:06:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nlandys@gmail.com) Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com (fg-out-1718.google.com [72.14.220.153]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC54213C45B for ; Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:06:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from nlandys@gmail.com) Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 16so976216fgg.35 for ; Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:06:29 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; bh=9lgeRfbrfxoOkv9e5MYvKJcKe7JWfR7lBa+/EggS//Y=; b=TJdB77ChTkoxFZpHjc9dRt95U8mnct6X2TCJgB4p8TJGILJX+sbXHi8bz66em3a+4Kb+57f0lH1q9YvfaWt1mM0tTdrZ0vjqDWsEVm7/2lWBrFRZjCFFNyHB06QKmgRcgrcm3HL1lBSL79BigjhBwQ76sLIBdDVs+oVnBcSd9vM= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; b=QcGo7x3DLvIpBQVlfzusLwsgdBSYbBXlBP/fSLDCSGe+In83xvM415QlBpEEz3ISHr4XKRc++Hf6MltmHqp+/y/WRbVoMy5ZMObYbgz6MHS+qqi63B+eEM8Ee7ZAjlwVkHkthH04uGqGHFnCp579AmHpp9p3sQxPrDyD2swxu9k= Received: by 10.82.167.5 with SMTP id p5mr4868554bue.2.1200618389131; Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:06:29 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.82.180.16 with HTTP; Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:06:29 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <560f92640801171706w7023ee1eq746b2dfec468b675@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:06:29 -0800 From: "Nerius Landys" To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F0652370B@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz> MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <478F0D5A.9090107@highperformance.net> <31AE442CCBC1094ABC40CE85B0149F0652370B@MAIL1.registry.otago.ac.nz> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: Gutman Method on Empty Space X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:06:31 -0000 > > Can anyone recommend a utility for the secure overwriting of > > unused disc > > space? > > split -b 200m /dev/random randomdata ; sync && rm randomdata* > > Run as many times as your paranoia factor requires on your file system. > Gutman suggests in his own writings that overwriting with random data > makes the most sense with modern disks. Run as root to extend the > writes past the soft filesystem limit. Use whatever split parameters > you fancy for the file sizes. The "srm" port has fancy features for > file/directory deletions. If I didn't misunderstand your question. If you're trying to write bits onto your disk so that nobody could recover data from it, there is a very simple way to blank out either YOUR WHOLE HARD DRIVE or AN ENTIRE SLICE ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Using the `dd' utility you can write zero bits to an entire slice of your hard drive (or to the whole hard drive): dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ Don't do this unless you want to lose all data on a slice or hard drive.