wipe /dev/sda

[Derek Broughton]

Kenneth Loafman wrote:

> Neil Aggarwal wrote:
>> Joep:
>> 
>>> The best way is to use a reasonably strong electromagnet and sweep it
>>> over the disk. In the old days we did it to wipe magnetic
>>> tapes.
>> 
>> Would that work for hard drives?
> 
> It has to be fairly strong, but yes.  An old TV degausser will also
> work, if you can find one.

In an old CRT monitor - there must still be millions of them out there 
(though I don't know if a degausser is actually a required component of a 
CRT monitor - I know my last CRT did have one).

It still seems rather random and potentially futile.  You have no real idea 
how well you have wiped the disk, and probably don't possess the technology 
to really test it anyway.
-- 
derek