Re: Default number of overwrites in shred

[Jim Meyering]

Paul Eggert <address@hidden> wrote:
> Peter Eckersley <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> I was wondering if you would consider reducing the number of default
>> overwrites for "shred" from 25 to something more like 5?
>
> As near as I can make out, for modern disks the default should be 1.
> That's easy to change.  Any objections?

Hi Paul,

My reflex was to object.  Reducing the default number of passes from
25 to 1 seemed extreme.  But after skimming through the link below,
it's hard to argue :-)

> There's also the Secure Erase facility built into modern ATA drives,
> which it sounds like 'shred' should use if it's available.
> Does anybody know how well GNU/Linux supports it?
> See <http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/hughes/SecureErase.html>.