Suggestion: HDDErase - More secure than Boot N Nuke

Iceman · **Joined:** Wed May 02, 2007 9:24 pm **Posts:** 1

Available from: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/subpgset.htm
Download link: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/HDDErase.zip

Article about:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=129

Users ATA hardware commands to render data useless. Faster and safer than any software method. Erases HPA and DCO areas and remapped 'bad sectors'.

And it's tiny.. only disadvantage is it doesn't do SCSI.. but never mind.. s'cool, init?

Hope it makes the disc.. love your work!

dencee · **Joined:** Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:36 pm **Posts:** 1

I have just completed HDDerase v3.2, a free hard disk drive secure erase utility.

Available from: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/subpgset.htm
Download link: http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/HDDErase.zip

Hope it makes the next version of the disc. Let me know what you think!!!

Victor Chew · **Joined:** Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1274

Noted. Thanks!

beermatt · **Joined:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:55 am **Posts:** 8

Just for info - v3.3 has been available for a couple of weeks - see here..

PsiMoon314 · **Joined:** Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:41 pm **Posts:** 19

Hi,

This update to HDDErase is actually quite serious as it fixes an issue with using ATA Secure Erase commands so they actually work.

Are there any plans to release UBCD 4.1.2 with this and other updates in the near future?

Kind Regards

Simon

Victor Chew · **Joined:** Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:59 pm **Posts:** 1274

Quote:

Are there any plans to release UBCD 4.1.2 with this and other updates in the near future?

Yes [Hanging head in shame]. I have been wanting to release the next version of UBCD for the longest time, but kept hitting into all kinds of delay.

It seems I am always taking two steps forward, one step back. I just need a stretch of quiet time to finish up the remaining 4-5% work, then test and release.

Easier said than done!

beermatt · **Joined:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:55 am **Posts:** 8

Secure Erase v4.0 has now been released (readme)..

Quote:

4.0 - Released 9/20/2008

- Added a system clock to print out the current time during the secure erase command.

- Added new item in the options menu to switch between different attached hard drives without exiting the program.

- Added new item in the options menu to unlock unlock drives with HDDErase passwords as well as user defined user or master passwords.

- HDDErase now displays the password being set on the drive before the secure erase command is issued. A message is printed to the screen when the passwords are unlocked as well.

- Added warning message to inform users to run HDDErase from AC power and not the laptop battery.

- Added an audit log failed message that is printed only to the removable media when a secure erase command does not complete successfully.

- Changed menu header displays.

- Updated MD5 hash and added SHA1 hash.

coin · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2008 8:35 am

@beerman
Secure Erase v4.0 looks great!

Already reviewed the more detailed info on this via the Secure Erase CMRR Protocols PDF, http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/CmrrSecureEraseProtocols.pdf
A recollection of sorts on Peter Guttman's original paper 'Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory' at http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/sec96/full_papers/gutmann/ and the hard-hitting NBER rebuttal 'Can Intelligence Agencies Read Overwritten Data? A response to Gutmann' at http://www.nber.org/sys-admin/overwritten-data-gutmann.html
Hope that the background on Secure Erase CMRR never receives the criticism NBER's Feenberg writes in the last two lines of the rebuttal :

Quote:

Surveying all the references, I conclude that Gutmann's claim belongs in the category of urban legend.

Or it may be in the category of marketing hype. I note that it is being used to sell a software package called "The Annililator".

Ouch!

Other secure-erase projects/utilities are
- DBAN (= Darik's Boot and Nuke), http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/
- srm (= secure removal), http://sourceforge.net/projects/srm

DBAN -- already on the Ultimate Boot CD -- was released this past February as version 2.0.0,, and srm was released this past July as version 1.2.9.

beermatt · **Joined:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:55 am **Posts:** 8

Secure Erase is also already on UBCD (I think UBCDv5 beta has Secure Erase v3.3), my post was just to notify of an update..

Suggestion: HDDErase - More secure than Boot N Nuke

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