Re: Secure deletion on Mac OS X

I don't know about Mac os x tools, but I recall seeing somewhere that the gutman method is no longer as secure as it once was due to modern drive technology (someone here may be able to better expand on this). If I recall properly, part of it was to due with transparent mapping of bad sectors to reserve sectors thereby leaving the data that was in the bad sector untouched (one way to 'hide' data is to flag the sectors it resides in bad and use a low-level disk editor to retrieve/modify the data later). There were a few more points as to why gutman is no longer absolutely secure, but I forget them all and I'm not in front of my system right now.

Geoff

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.

-----Original Message-----
From: barcajax@xxxxxxxxx
Date: 30 Apr 2007 03:00:53
To:security-basics@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Secure deletion on Mac OS X

I use Eraser to securely delete files on my Windows XP desktop. I use CCleaner to securely delete my surfing history, cookies and cache.

I'm looking for similar freeware secure deletion tools that can be used on Mac OS X. Mac OS X comes with its own secure deletion option but it does not have any options to configure. How does it fair against a tool like Eraser? Is there a better tool for Mac? How about a freeware tool to securely clear my surfing history, cookies and cache? My preference is for both tools to support the Gutmann method.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

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