|
|
|
Every computer user
that replaces his hard drive has to deal with the issue of erasing or wiping out
the data from his old hard drive. The more sensitive the data the more important
is the wipeout method and process. There are today 3 basic alternatives, with
few variations, to solve this issue.
- Software solution
- Hardware duplicator solution
- Hardware Wipe Out solution
The advantages and disadvantages of
these methods are discussed below.
(Editor:- a 4th method, which is less common, is physical
destruction of the hard drive into small chunks from which
data recovery is no
longer feasible. This is the most expensive method but has the advantage of
working in some situations when the others won't work - for example if there is
an interface or media error in the hard drive which means that data can be read,
but not overwritten.)
Software solution
This is a low cost single drive
solution. There are several software programs that allow a user to attach a
drive to his computer and erase its content. And on a fast computer this could
run pretty fast.
Advantages
- Low cost (usually under $100)
Disadvantages
- Can only wipe out one drive at a time
- Most low cost software programs do not support DOD (Department Of Defense)
requirements for Wipe out.
- Most programs do not support HPA (Host Protected Area) and DCO (Drive
Configuration Overlay). Even if a program supports it, not all drive controllers
inside the PC support those commands. This could potentially leave a lot of
hidden information on the drive.
- Programs that run under XP are prone to Viruses. Theoretically a virus can
hinder the operation of the wipe out. The result could be partial wipe out or
none at all. A DOS or Linux programs can solve this issue; the penalty is more
complexity and less speed.
To summarize this option: This is a good solution for sophisticated
users that do not need to deal with several drives at the same time, that can
allocated a computer for this task and do not have highly sensitive data. |
|
|
Hardware duplicator
solution
This is the most expensive solution.
Hardware duplicators
are stand-alone units that are designed to duplicate multiple hard drives very
fast at the same time. Most of those units support a wipe out option among many
others.
Advantages
Disadvantages
- Expensive
- Require some expertise
- Not all unit support HPA and DCO
To summarize this option: This is a good solution for trained users
that can operate a hard drive duplicator. It provides good speed and reliable
wipeout. The main drawback though, is the full cost of a duplicator for the only
use of wipe out. Due to the complex configurations options of the duplicator it
is easily possible to misconfigure the unit, resulting in partial wipe out.
|
|
|
|
Hardware Wipe Out solution
Referring
to the above factors, the author's company, Intelligent Computer Solutions Inc
(ICS) came out with a solution that combines the advantages of SW and HW and
eliminate all the disadvantages and risks of the other solutions. This is a
stand alone hardware unit that is dedicated to wipe out 9 drives at a time and
is about 40% of the cost of an equivalent duplicator. Since it is
optimized for wipe out it does not have many configuration options and it makes
it extremely easy to operate.
Advantages
- Fast.
- Reliable
- Simple to operate
- Support all IDE and SATA drives
- Support HPA and DCO
- No viruses concerns
- No need to allocate a computer
- Does not require a sophisticated user
- Erase data from multiple hard drives (upto 9 simultaneously) faster than it
would take to a regular computer to wipe out data from one hard drive.
Disadvantages
- higher cost than software for low volume of disks (Editor)
|
|
To summarize this option
This is the best solution for wiping out drives. The unit's simple interface
minimizes user error, even with an untrained user. Since the unit is optimized
for wipe out it is much less expensive than full duplicator and it supports all
the requirement of wiping out hard drives.
Currently the only
manufacturer of such a system is ICS. It is a stand alone unit and eliminate the
need to dedicate another unit (such as a computer or a duplicator) for such a
task, and therefore the most cost effective solution ever. With the growing
demand by law, such as the new HIPPA Regulations and the procedures for
computer forensic data acquisition) the need of many government agencies to
suddenly face the need to erase huge amounts of data and do it forensically
(with many iterations on each hard drive it seems that any other solution known
so far would not stand to the task.
...Intelligent Computer
Solutions profile
You may also be intereseted in some of these related articles:-
|
How
Big is the Hard Disk Sanitizer Market?
STORAGEsearch.com estimates
that this market segment, which barely existed just a few years ago could grow
to over $2 billion.
Although software products can clean up
disk data in low volumes, we estimate that due to the fear and risk of malware -
most corporate users will prefer not to use software sanitizers as
their main protection tool.
The disk clean-ups will be done primarily
by hardware appliances. The market will split into companies which provide
this as a service and those who sell the disk eraser systems. | |
|
|
|
