Re: Create text files recursively and write ZEROS within them all - data overwriting purposes

[GotToBTru]

Disk wiping for security purposes almost certainly needs to interact with the disk on lower level than merely writing large files. As an example, the claimed "Mil-Spec security" provided by one vendor involved writing each of a set of byte patterns, in a particular order, to each sector of the disk. Multiple times, I think.

As with many other security considerations, what needs to be done will depend also on the tenacity and resources of the adversary. It's one thing to make sure somebody can't reconstruct a particular file using Norton Utilities, and another to keep the NSA from reading the disk by using data remnants from seeker head hysteresis.

[BillKSmith]

Security also has limited resources. Using them wisely only limits the number of adversaries who can potentially access our data. I believe that all suggestions so far are in the spirit of making better use of available resources.

[panicbuttonsec]

Agreed. I can use a "disk wiper" which we have, but they are slow and I was hoping for a quick simple method for overwriting data, especially when the drive is needed within a very short timespan. US DOD 5220 standards are not required here.Even linux's sudo shred command is slow with only a single zero pass. Thanks for the help, though.