On 03/07/2010 04:23 AM, Ron Johnson wrote:
What *can* exist, maybe, are residual *fragments* (blocks or sectors, since the original inodes and index structures were wiped away by the mkfs) which a clever forensic technician could maybe piece back together, So, zeroing out the partition is a reasonable operation for a /home or /data partition (where you'd keep sensitive data), but not for something as mundane as an OS-only / partition.
However, I was under the impression that the OP wanted to zero a disk he already owns and intend to continue owning.
I'd definitely zero (or write random bytes) a disk that I'd give or sell, but if I wanted just to clear the disk for my own use, I don't think I need to protect my confidential stuff from myself.
-- /* now make a new head in the exact same spot */ -- Larry Wall in cons.c from the perl source code Eduardo M KALINOWSKI eduardo@kalinowski.com.br