why does the new version of kgpg shred so fast?

darksmiley · 07-12-2005, 07:43 AM

i have noticed that the new version of kgpg shreds suspiciously fast and i am worried it might just be deleting them (or sending them to the FBI!! oh my god!! (joke!)). i use the version of kgpg that comes with kde 3.4.1.

does anyone know why or what to do, or have any good alternative shredders?

oh, and just wondered - a shredder doesn't use any encryption does it - i thought it just overwrote the data at the inode with gibberish?

cheers all and keep up the good work

jailbait · 07-13-2005, 04:00 PM

"does anyone know why or what to do, or have any good alternative shredders?"

kgpg is a front end for the CLI command gpg. gpg is an encryption program. If you want a shredding program take a look at shred:
man shred

But for the ultimate in secure shredding try dban. Whenever I hear the cops pounding up the stairs I reach for dban.
http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Soft...0060/DBAN.html

--------------------------------
Steve Stites

leonscape · 07-13-2005, 04:15 PM

No its still shredding them. just doing it more quickly. Its a combination of a faster shredder backend, and a better kgpg.

darksmiley · 07-14-2005, 06:36 AM

but its doing them almost instantaneously

thanks for the advice so far tho, and as i can hear sirens in the distance lets take a look at that dban thingy. (joke!)

kikta · 04-18-2006, 11:21 PM

I have been having the same problem for some time. Have you found a solution/answer?

rolsch · 04-23-2006, 05:44 AM

Sorry to say this, but there is no 100% save way to delete data from disk.

Tools like "dban" are very useful to prevent data revovery with reasonable effort. But if one is determined to invest enought money, even those tools fail. Take a look at the FAQ of dban:

Quote:

Q: Are you absolutely sure that DBAN works properly?
A: No. ... DBAN is "good enough" for "most people".

There are several problems. Just to name a few:

Depending on the implementation of your file system, data may be placed aside from the official blocks on your disk.
If you are using a journaling file system, data has probably been written to the journal before going to their blocks on disk.
Data may have been cached in your swap space.
Your file system decided to move your data around the disk (for optimization). So one file lives in several locations on your disk.
Your hard disk contains remapped sectors. The actual physical loction of a sector is determined by the disk. E.g. dban does not support remapped sectors.
One bit on disk is made of many magnetic information. Overwriting a bit does not change all magnetic information on disk, just most of them. So even if you are overwriting the correct location on your disk several times, there are still old magnetic information left that can be reconstructed.
Even low level formatting does not work 100%, because of data remanence.

The only way to destroy data 100% is to physically destroy the media by pulverization or melting.

Call me paranoid, but who knows where DRM, MPAA, etc. are heading to

kikta · 04-23-2006, 01:09 PM

I know all of that, but I'll still take shred's best effort over nothing.

The problem is that KGpg's shred function doesn't appear to work. I know I can use wipe or dban or whatever. I know these methods aren't perfect. I don't care - I just want help with Figuring out why KGpg's shred now takes half a second to do what used to take several minutes.

That being said, I still thank you for your time.

Crito · 04-23-2006, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolsch

Sorry to say this, but there is no 100% save way to delete data from disk.

Sure there is, just use a powerful electromagnet:
http://www.ibas.com/data-erasure/degausser

The one they sell at radio shack for bulk erasing video tape is a lot cheaper though. It's what I use... since mine's sitting right next to me ATM, they call it a "High Power Video/Audio Tape Eraser", catalog number 44-233A