Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 10:20 AM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Re-using zeroed file space
Greetings All,
When files have zeros written over them, is the "zeroed" space seen as
usable or as an existing file of zeros?
I've been using "BiteByBite" but never remember to check disc space before
running it to see if it's freed up after.
Does the act of formatting a drive write zeros once through as opposed to
over-writing several times as with "BiteByBite" type software?
Thanks to the collective!
-Phil Williams-
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Good Afternoon Phil,
I'm no expert in on the topic you've presented but do have some experience using a few software packages to 'zero-out' and/or format hard drives before passing them along to a friend or acquaintance in need. This in mind, I'll answer your queries to the best of my ability bearing in mind that wiser, more experienced heads on the list may offer better and more correct advice.
1) You asked: When files have zeros written over them, is the "zeroed" space seen as usable or as an existing file of zeros?
My answer: I've never used 'BiteByBite' and know nothing about it, but I have used 'Active@ KillDisk' quite often and am impressed with its design, ease-of-use and overall no-nonsense elegance. When KillDisk 'zeroes out' a drive it is exactly that: zeroed with all data permanently destroyed and rendered for all essential purposes as unrecoverable using forsenic applications. The 'zeroed' space is not usable and raw until the drive is partitioned and reformatted. A properly 'zeroed' drive is not seen as a file of zeroes.
Active@ KillDisk is available as a limited free version and a fully enabled professional version: the primary difference being the free version allows a one-pass zeroing of the drive (which is sufficient for most home and ome office users) while the professional version allows the user to specify or custom configure different types of wipes and the number of passes. Correctly using the professional version renders the drive vrtually if not totally impossible to read by any known forensic software. These are the types of wipes financial institutions, industrial concerns and governmental agencies might use to keep highly-confidential or top-secret information out of the hands of potential foes, adversaries, enemies-of-the-state or industrial spies. In extreme situations where security is absolutely paramount, the drives would then be physically destroyed after running the software wipes.
Active@ KillDisk is available here: http://www.killdisk.com/.
2) You asked: I've been using "BiteByBite" but never remember to check disc space before running it to see if it's freed up after.
My answer: Once again I've never used 'BiteByBite', but my understanding is you should see no difference in usuable free space whether the free space has been 'wiped' or simply marked as free to use after deletion using Windows.
3) You asked: Does the act of formatting a drive write zeros once through as opposed to over-writing several times as with "BiteByBite" type software?
My answer: To the best of my knowledge, formatting a drive using the 'format' utility in Windows (or the format utility available in other third-party applications) does not 'zero-out' the drive: it simply checks the drive's integrity and prepares it for use as a boot drive or secondary drive in the user specified file system (i.e., FAT32 or NTFS). The exception to this might be certain disk preparation utilities available from the various hard drive manufacturers. Since my experience has been limited to Maxtor, Seagate & Western Digital drives, I am unable to comment with any authority on disk preparation software available from the full list of hard drive manufacturers.
HTH. Please let us know what you learn and how you make out. I am,
Very truly yours,
Jeffrey Ottie
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