Information wiping methods used by Acronis

The table below briefly describes information wiping methods used by Acronis. Each description features the number of hard disk sector passes along with the number(s) written to each sector byte.

The description of built-in information wiping methods

No.

Algorithm (writing method)

Passes

Record

1.

United States Department of Defense 5220.22-M

4

1st pass – randomly selected symbols to each byte of each sector, 2 – complementary to written during the 1st pass; 3 – random symbols again; 4 – writing verification.

2.

United States: NAVSO P-5239-26 (RLL)

4

1st pass – 0×01 to all sectors, 2 – 0x27FFFFFF, 3 – random symbol sequences, 4 – verification.

3.

United States: NAVSO P-5239-26 (MFM)

4

1st pass – 0×01 to all sectors, 2 – 0x7FFFFFFF, 3 – random symbol sequences, 4 – verification.

4.

German: VSITR

7

1st – 6th – alternate sequences of: 0×00 and 0xFF; 7th – 0xAA; i.e. 0×00, 0xFF, 0×00, 0xFF, 0×00, 0xFF, 0xAA.

5.

Russian: GOST P50739-95

1

Logical zeros (0×00 numbers) to each byte of each sector for 6th to 4th security level systems.

Randomly selected symbols (numbers) to each byte of each sector for 3rd to 1st security level systems.

6.

Peter Gutmann’s method

35

Peter Gutmann’s method is very sophisticated. It’s based on his theory of hard disk information wiping (see Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory).

7.

Bruce Schneier’s method

7

Bruce Schneier offers a seven-pass overwriting method in his Applied Cryptography book. 1st pass – 0xFF, 2nd pass – 0×00, and then five times with a cryptographically secure pseudo-random sequence.

8.

Fast

1

Logical zeros (0×00 numbers) to all sectors to wipe.

Information wiping methods used by Acronis