[olug] [OT] IBM Authorized service center in Lincoln...

[Kevin D. Snodgrass]

--- On Sun, 11/1/09, Jeff Hinrichs - DM&T <dundeemt at gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Jeff Hinrichs - DM&T <dundeemt at gmail.com>
> Actually if you are concerned about
> someone reading via residual
> magnetic levels, a variation on the gutmann method would be
> the way to
> go.

If you are not the DoD, State Dept. NSA, CIA, FBI or some other Fed alphabet soup agency that deals in national secrets, maybe you should take a powder break.  What the heck does any Joe Six-pack have on their personal hdd that could be that interesting.

> Gutmann is the same idea but applied to mfm/mll
> disks.  Writing all
> 0's once leaves the theoretical possibility of 
> equipment sufficiently
> advanced to detect smaller residual differences and still
> be able to
> make a good analysis of the disk.(some bits are not as 0 as
> others)

<tinfoilhat>
OK, do 5 passes of /dev/zero, 5 passes of 0xFF, (Why is there no /dev/twohundredfiftyfive?) and then a few /dev/random.
</tinfoilhat>

> You need to remember that magnetic field levels are not
> digital, but
> analog.

True, but so is DRAM. :-)

> Paranoid me?  Who said that? :)

I don't know if you are a pair o' noids, 3 of a kind or a full funny farm (pair o' noids with 3 tinfoil hats).  Maybe you should just get a grinding wheel. :-)

Kevin D. Snodgrass