{"id":3055,"date":"2019-07-09T07:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2019-07-08T17:17:16","modified_gmt":"2019-07-08T21:17:16","slug":"is-it-possible-to-retrieve-data-from-an-hdd-thats-been-zeroed-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/09\/is-it-possible-to-retrieve-data-from-an-hdd-thats-been-zeroed-out\/","title":{"rendered":"“Is it possible to retrieve data from an HDD that’s been zeroed out?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Answer requested by Shane Zimmerman)<\/small><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, yes! (And I’m not talking about recovering a long, useless string of zeros!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zeroing (or One-ing) out a drive — filling it with all Zeros or all Ones — will make it unrecoverable to consumer gear, but maybe not to specialized equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s why: A One laid on top of a Zero has a very slightly different overall magnetic charge than a One laid atop another One, or a Zero laid over another Zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s below the level that the drive can detect, obviously, but sensitive equipment can measure the difference and reconstruct what was likely to have been each magnetic domain’s previous data \u2014- especially if all you have to do is mathematically cancel out the top “layer” of all-Ones or all-Zeros. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s more secure to overwrite a drive with random<\/strong><\/em> Ones and Zeros, which really does make it extremely difficult \u2014 next to impossible \u2014 to recover previous data from the drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple passes of random ones and zeros, and no one will be able to sort out any faint traces of the original data from the blizzard of false, random data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=3055<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Answer requested by Shane Zimmerman) Actually, yes! (And I’m not talking about recovering a long, useless string of zeros!) Zeroing (or One-ing) out a drive — filling it with all Zeros or all Ones — will make it unrecoverable to consumer gear, but maybe not to specialized equipment. Here’s why: A One laid on top…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-Nh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3068,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/18\/more-on-the-recoverability-of-overwritten-data\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":0},"title":"More on the recoverability of overwritten data","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-07-18","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent post,\u201cIs it possible to retrieve data from an HDD that\u2019s been zeroed out?\u201d generated some interesting mail arguing the technical merits of single vs. multipass, and random vs nonrandom, overwrites. For example, Miles Wolbe sent in this excellent note: Hi Fred,This is a topic that has interested me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reader Comment"","block_context":{"text":"Reader Comment","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/reader-comment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3158,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/31\/can-i-clone-an-encrypted-hard-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":1},"title":"“Can I clone an encrypted hard drive?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-07-31","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Anthony Dimpu) Sure. In general, drive cloning basically just hoovers up the ones and zeros from a source disk; and lays them down, unchanged and unexamined, in an exactly analogous pattern on another disk. It doesn't matter to the cloning software what the ones and zeros represent,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3247,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/29\/yes-your-hdds-and-ssds-really-do-weigh-more-when-in-use\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":2},"title":"Yes, your HDDs and SSDs really do weigh more when filled with data.","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-08-29","format":false,"excerpt":"It's odd: Questions about the physical weight of data get asked fairly often --- I don't know what's prompting it. Perhaps the move to SSDs? The most recent iteration phrased it this way: \"Does data have physical weight? If something is 10 gigabytes, does it actually weigh whatever system you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":174,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/25\/yes-an-electronically-stored-1-actually-does-weigh-more-than-a-0\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":3},"title":"Yes, an electronically stored “1” actually does weigh more than a “0”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-08-25","format":false,"excerpt":"Q:\u00a0Does downloading data to a hard drive, say an app onto a phone, make the hard drive slightly heavier?\u00a0 (Question sent via\u00a0Quora) A:\u00a0 On a flash hard drive or in RAM? Yes! Adding information --- a 1, instead of a 0 --- requires storing an electric charge. Each electron has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3267,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/06\/how-much-is-1tb-of-ssd-vs-1tb-hdd-in-storage-space-how-do-they-compare\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":4},"title":"“How much is 1TB of SSD vs. 1TB HDD in storage space? How do they compare?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-09-06","format":false,"excerpt":"Seriously? A kilo of feathers weighs the same as a kilo of lead, right? A kilo is a kilo, even if the materials have different densities and volumes. Likewise, a TB of storage is a TB of storage, even if the materials change. SSD, HDD, floppy, cassette, punch card, perforated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1405,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/22\/a-reader-asks-do-people-drive-a-lot-worse-in-the-rain-in-boston-ma\/","url_meta":{"origin":3055,"position":5},"title":"A reader* asks: “Do people drive a lot worse in the rain in Boston, MA?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-22","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, of course. Accident rates in Boston go up in the rain \u2014 just as they do in every other location on the planet. I'm not sure what else you\u2019d expect when roads get slippery and visibility goes down! I'm guessing that what you're really getting at is the poor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3057,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}