Mind Map Gallery Data Sanitization Tools
A mind map about data sanitization tools.
Data Sanitization Tools
Digital Remanence
The remaining data on magnetic storage after deletion or erasure.
Data sanitization tools correct this problem by completely removing data from devices, making them suitable for disposal or reuse.
Data Types
Data
Data held within an object, file, or block
Metadata
Data describing an object, file, or data block
Used by the system to manage and locate data
Metadata is stored differently from data:
On Linux, metadata is stored as inodes.
On Windows, metadata is stored in a master file table.
Data Deletion or Erasure
When you delete a file, the operating system removes the inode or the table entry corresponding to that file.
Disk Sanitization
Data sanitization programs overwrite each disk location where the file's data was stored.
This obliterates the information that was stored on disk so that it can't be reconstructed.
You should always sanitize disks before disposing of them.
Modern data sanitization algorithms have improved substantially, to the point that they can successfully sanitize disks in a single pass.
Examples:
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)
CBL Data Shredder
The format command with the write zero option