[NBLUG/talk] OT: Bulk erasure

[Sebastian]

> Define "a lot of money".  Specifically, is "a lot of money" more or less
> than $10,000?

That's around the neighborhood I was thinking, I guess. Not CIA-class
security, but not a simple format either. Mostly I don't want a potential
competitor to buy a used computer and find a salesperson's contact list
sitting on the drive. We're not talking national security or anything, but
confidential all the same :)

> If you can borrow a bulk eraser, that would be better than a simple
> magnet.  Those alternate back and forth and give you much better
> erasure.  Just a really big strong magnet will leave the original
> pattern intact (simply offset a given amount in one direction) enough
> that expensive analysis equipment can figure out what was originally
> there.

Thanks for the excellent explanation, Eric.

I found similar info in this article:
<http://computer.org/security/v1n1/garfinkel.htm>

It's a good read if you're interested in this stuff.

So, anyone have a bulk eraser (degausser) I could borrow for a few days? :)

I won't hold my breath, it looks like bulk erasers powerful enough for DLT
are multi-hundred-dollar items. Till then I'll do my best with DBAN (a
handy bootable linux disk, uses WIPE underneath.)

Thanks,
Sebastian