--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Jeffrey Watts [email protected] wrote:
Well, he was talking about the government. They're always ten or more years behind, so I'm willing to bet that their disk wiping procedures probably DO date back from when there were MFM drives. ;-)
Seems to me the government is up to speed on this one.
"There is an abundant array of disk wiping applications available for computer users. The government standard is a medium security level application that specifies overwriting a hard drive six times through three iterations. Each iteration consists of two write-passes on a hard drive. The first iteration removes the files over at the drive surface, while the second iteration registers "zeros" on the surface. Finally, the government-designated code of 246 is assigned to a drive when the third iteration culminates. The only disadvantage of opting to wipe disk is the time it requires to do so."
http://ezinearticles.com/?Wipe-Disk-To-Rid-Off-Hard-Drive-Data&id=114307... TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/4fy35d
When it comes to keeping things secret, the government seems to be up to speed. Its just when it comes to less important stuff like catching murderers (i.e., revealing secrets) when it falls behind.