•  
  •  
 

Abstract

The permanent removal of data from media is a major area of concern mainly because of the misconception that once a file is deleted or storage media is formatted, it cannot be recovered. There has been the development of both commercial and freeware data erasing tools, which all claim complete file or disk erasure. This report analyzes the efficiency of a number of these tools in performing erasures on an electromechanical drive. It focuses on a selection of popular and modern erasing tools; taking into consideration their usability, claimed erasing standards and whether they perform complete data erasure with the use of the Write Zero method.

References

Brook, M. (2017). Data storage lifespans: how long will media really last? - Media Releases - CIO. [online] CIO. Available at: https://www.cio.com.au/mediareleases/29049/data-storage-lifespans-how-long-will-media-really/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Computerhope.com. (2018). What is the Windows desktop.ini file and can I delete it? . [online] Available at: https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001060.htm [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].

Datasecurityinc.com. SSD vs. HHD. [online] Available at: http://datasecurityinc.com/solid_state_storage_devices.html [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

Diskgenius.com. MBR VS GPT, which is the best choice for your computer? . [online] Available at: https://www.diskgenius.com/how-to/mbr-vs-gpt.php#03-2 [Accessed 28 Apr. 2019].

Disk-partition.com. (2019). How to Write Zeros to a Hard Drive Effortlessly? . [online] Available at: https://www.disk-partition.com/articles/write-zeros-to-hard-drive-8523.html [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].

Diskwipe.org. Disk Wipe - Free software. [online] Available at: http://www.diskwipe.org/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Drolet, M. (2019). What does stolen data cost [per second]. [online] CSO Online. Available at: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3251606/what-does-stolen-data-cost-per-second.html [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].

Eraser. Eraser – Secure Erase Files from Hard Drives. [online] Available at: https://eraser.heidi.ie/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Fisher, T. (2019). 40 Free Programs to Completely Wipe Data From Hard Drives. [online] Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-destruction-software-programs-2626174 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2019].

Fisher, T. (2018). Data Sanitization Methods: Everything You Need to Know. [online] Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/data-sanitization-methods-2626133 [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Fisher, T. (2018). What's an MBR and How to You Repair MBR Problems? . [online] Lifewire. Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-master-boot-record-mbr-2625936 [Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].

Gutmann, P. (1996). Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory. In: The Sixth USENIX Security Symposium.

Hardwipe.com. Hardwipe - Data Sanitization Security Toolset. [online] Available at: https://www.hardwipe.com/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Historycoalition.org. (2009). NARA Provides Update on Missing Clinton Hard Drive – National Coalition For History. [online] Available at: http://historycoalition.org/2009/07/24/nara-provides-update-on-missing-clinton-hard-drive/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2019].

Kakasoft.com. Kakasoft: USB Security, Copy protection, File/Folder Locking Software. [online] Available at: http://www.kakasoft.com/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].

Killdisk.com. How to erase hard drive by Active@ KillDisk? Disk Eraser, Disk Wiper, Disk Format & Disk Sanitizer. [online] Available at: https://killdisk.com/eraser.html [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Macrorit.com. Permanently Erase Data with Free Data Wiper. [online] Available at: https://macrorit.com/free-data-wiper.html [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Martin, T. and Jones, A. (2011). An evaluation of data erasing tools. In: 9th Australian Digital Forensics Conference. [online] Perth Western Australia: Edith Cowan University, pp.85-92. Available at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/adf/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Moore, B. (2019). Medical records left in abandoned nursing home. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-47860424/thousands-of-patient-files-left-in-westbury-house-nursing-home?intlink_from_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Ftopics%2Fc0ele42740rt%2Fdata-breaches&link_location=live-reporting-map [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].

National Institute of Standards and Technology (2006). NIST SP 800-88, Guidelines for Media Santifization. Gaithersburg, Maryland: U.S. Government Printing Office.

NTFS.com. NTFS System Files. [online] Available at: http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-system-files.htm [Accessed 25 Apr. 2019].

Puransoftware.com. Puran Software - Quality First. [online] Available at: http://www.puransoftware.com/ [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].

Remosoftware.com. Remo Software - Tools to Recover, Repair, Erase, Manage & Optimize Data. [online] Available at: https://www.remosoftware.com/ [Accessed 19 Mar. 2019].

Rothke, B. (2009). Why Information Must Be Destroyed, Part Two. [online] CSO Online. Available at: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2123985/why-information-must-be-destroyed--part-two.html [Accessed 18 Apr. 2019].

Sahri, M., Huda Sheikh Abdulah, S., Firham Efendy Md. Senan, M., Yusof, N., Zarina Binti Zainal Abidin, N., Bin Shaiful Azam, N. and Josalmin Bin Tajul Ariffin, T. (2018). The Efficiency of Wiping Tools in Media Sanitization. In: 2018 Cyber Resilience Conference (CRC). [online] IEEE. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8626824 [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Sansurooah, K., Hope, H., Almutairi, H., Alnazawi, F. and Jiang, Y. (2013). An Investigation Into The Efficiency Of Forensic Data Erasure Tools For Removable Usb Flash Memory Storage Devices. In: 11th Australian Digital Forensics Conference. Perth, Western Australia: Edith Cowan University.

Software.intel.com. (2019). CPU Time. [online] Available at: https://software.intel.com/en-us/vtune-amplifier-help-cpu-time [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].

Stiennon, R. (2017). Everything You Need to Know About DoD 5220.22-M Wiping Standard. [online] BTG English. Available at: https://www.blancco.com/blog-dod-5220-22-m-wiping-standard-method/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Valli, C. and Jones, A. (2005). A UK and Australian Study of Hard Disk Disposal. In: 3rd Australian Computer, Network and Information Forensics Conference. [online] Perth, Western Australia: School of Computer and Information Science, ECU, pp.74-78. Available at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/2763/ [Accessed 17 Apr. 2019].

Veritysystems.com. (2017). What is the best way to destroy a hard drive? | VS Security. [online] Available at: https://www.veritysystems.com/uk/news-blog/what-is-the-best-way-to-destroy-a-hard-drive/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2019].

Verma, A. (2017). What Is System Volume Information Folder In Windows? How To Access And Shrink It? . [online] Fossbytes. Available at: https://fossbytes.com/system-volume-information-folder-windows-shrink/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2019].

Warburton, D. (2019). Terror threat as Heathrow Airport security files found dumped in the street. [online] Mirror. Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/terror-threat-heathrow-airport-security-11428132 [Accessed 7 Mar. 2019].

Wright, C., Kleiman, D. & Sundhar R.S, S. 2008, "Overwriting Hard Drive Data: The Great Wiping Controversy" in Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 243-257.

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.