Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:23:00 +0200 From: Roland Smith <rsmith@xs4all.nl> To: Andrew Falanga <af300wsm@gmail.com> Cc: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Wipe a drive clean Message-ID: <20080623202259.GB97202@slackbox.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: <340a29540806231257x670cf398qc5bf11c396fd0afb@mail.gmail.com> References: <340a29540806231257x670cf398qc5bf11c396fd0afb@mail.gmail.com>
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--xgyAXRrhYN0wYx8y Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 01:57:47PM -0600, Andrew Falanga wrote: > Hi, >=20 > I'm having no luck finding hits for "wipe drive" or "zero drive" in > the mail list archives and I can't believe I'm the first to ask this > question but here it is anyway. How can I simply write 0's across a > USB thumb drive?=20 I'm not sure about flash memory, but for a harddrive, simple writing 0's is not a secure way to delete data. It can still be recovered. > I'd rather not install a port, if I can avoid it. I Have a look at security/wipe. > was thinking that something like dd would work, but everything I've > tried thus far is not working. What suggestions does everyone have? I think the trick is to use the right block size. Try bs=3D512 or 2048 in your dd command. Use if=3D/dev/random instead of if=3D/dev/zero and repeat a couple of times. Note that wiping flash drives way will shorten the lifespan of the device. Roland --=20 R.F.Smith http://www.xs4all.nl/~rsmith/ [plain text _non-HTML_ PGP/GnuPG encrypted/signed email much appreciated] pgp: 1A2B 477F 9970 BA3C 2914 B7CE 1277 EFB0 C321 A725 (KeyID: C321A725) --xgyAXRrhYN0wYx8y Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.9 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkhgBiMACgkQEnfvsMMhpyXbaACgjqcds4UFLJGVzzx0AzgjjPAq L6gAn2DJUmJNI4C1t3KNZlOxYvBViXOr =Ec8G -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --xgyAXRrhYN0wYx8y--
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