data shredder

[NoOp]

On 12/21/2009 08:39 PM, Rashkae wrote:
> NoOp wrote:
>>
>> 
>> o I recommended looking at shred and scrub.
>> o Gilles recommended TrueCrypt (which isn't really an answer to the OP's
>> question, and has nothing to do with the OP's question)
>> o Amadee recomends dd - OK, but is this practical on a single file?
>> o Kent write some nice rules about security
>> o Ray does the same as Kent (who cares?) Security rules regarding
>> passwords et al have been in place since I worked security & ciphony in
>> the 1980's. Are they different now?
>> o Karl of course throws security to the wind... Boggles the mind.
>> 
>> So, other than my recommendations regarding shred & scrub and Gilles
>> obtuse recommendation about TrueCrypt (which I use) but doesn't have
>> diddly squat to do with shredding exisiting files etc.), do any of you
>> thread drifting 'experts' have a recommendation for the OP?
>> 
> 
> I haven't looked at scrub, nor have I really been closely following yet
> another long mis-informed chase into the paranoia rabbit hole.  However,
> as seen by shred's own man page, you can't count on that program doing
> what you want on modern filesystems.  

Did you miss:

>
>        Ext3  journaling  modes  can  be  changed  by adding the
> data=something option to the mount  options  for  a  particular  file
> system  in  the /etc/fstab file, as documented in the mount man page
> (man mount).

So, I'll repeat:

>> So, other than my recommendations regarding shred & scrub and
>> Gilles obtuse recommendation about TrueCrypt (which I use) but
>> doesn't have diddly squat to do with shredding exisiting files
>> etc.), do any of you thread drifting 'experts' have a
>> recommendation for the OP?

> That's why we come to dd as the
> only way to be sure you overwrite what you want.  (by filling the entire
> free hard drive space in a new file, as root, then sync, then delete.)

Really? Cite - reference? If you think that dd will do the trick then I
look forward to you providing details.

> The only question is what do you fill it with? 

The only question is what you offer to the OP? dd is a viable option, so
let's see if you can provide a viable option to use dd to shred a
file/folder easily.

< I think filling the file
> with zeros once is perfectly adequate for anyone not trying to hide
> plans of the illuminati new world order takeover.  For those who can't
> feel better otherwise, you can repeat the process 3x with random data.
> 

OK tell us how.