Another 'wipe' tool: http://abaababa.ouvaton.org/wipe/ Regards, Jarek

-----Wiadomość oryginalna----- Od: Richard Ems [mailto:suse-security@mtg-marinetechnik.de] Wysłano: 26 kwietnia 2005 17:37 Do: suse-security@suse.com Temat: Re: [suse-security] Securely wiping external usb hard drive

What about wipe?

wipe-2.2.0-21 on SuSE 9.2

NAME wipe - secure file deletion utility

SYNOPSIS wipe

[-ucwsiIhfFdDnNvVzZrRtTkKaA] [-B(count)] [-S(size)] [-C(size)] [-o[size] -O] [-l[0-2]] [-x[1-32] -X] [-p(1-32)] [-b(0-255)] [files]

DEFAULT wipe -ZdntVAkO -S512 -C4096 -l1 -x8 -p1

DESCRIPTION Wipe is a secure file wiping utility. There are some low level issues that must be taken into consideration. One of these is that there must be some sort of write barrier between passes. Wipe uses fdatasync(2) (or fsync(2)) as a write barrier, or if fsync(2) isn't available, the file is opened with the O_DSYNC or O_SYNC flag. For wipe to be effec‐ tive, each pass must be completely written. To ensure this, the drive must support some form of a write barrier, write cache flush, or write cache disabling. SCSI supports ordered command tags, has a force media access bit for commands, and write cache can be disable on mode page 8. IDE/ATA drives support write cache flushes and write cache disabling. Unfor‐ tunetly, not all drives actually disable write cache when asked to. Those drives are broken. Write caching should always be disabled, unless your system is battery backed and always powers down cleanly

-- Richard Ems Tel: +49 40 65803 312 Fax: +49 40 65803 392 Richard.Ems@mtg-marinetechnik.de

MTG Marinetechnik GmbH - Wandsbeker Koenigstr. 62 - D 22041 Hamburg

GF Dipl.-Ing. Ullrich Keil Handelsregister: Abt. B Nr. 11 500 - Amtsgericht Hamburg Abt. 66 USt.-IdNr.: DE 1186 70571

-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands, e-mail: suse-security-help@suse.com Security-related bug reports go to security@suse.de, not here