Groups > comp.os.linux.development.system > #633

Re: shred or scrub

From	crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid>
Newsgroups	comp.os.linux.development.system, comp.os.linux.development.apps
Subject	Re: shred or scrub
Date	2014-04-19 02:15 -0600
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<litbb0$b0e$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References	<limvgj$tse$1@dont-email.me> <lio9r0$3jl$1@dont-email.me> <lisn3i$elq$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 04/18/2014 08:30 PM, Bill Cunningham wrote:
> crankypuss wrote:
>
>> There exist pseudo-devices 'zero', 'random', and 'urandom':
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Device_file#Pseudo-devices
>
>      What's the difference in urandom and random devices? I have used the
> uuid command to generate a random key of about 20 of these 128 bit uuids and
> usesd mcrypt with it. But I will definately use your technique too.
>
> Bill

I haven't studied the code, but the difference is explained-at in "man 
urandom".  The "random" flavor can block waiting on more data in the 
"entropy pool", the "urandom" flavor doesn't block, according to my 
reading of it.  For shredding a file I'd want the urandom version since 
waiting for more environmental static isn't productive in that case. 
The main value of using random numbers to shred the file is that you're 
not using all-zeros, which for some devices would only "dim" the 
existing file contents rather than obscuring them into uselessness.

Of course this still begs the question that arises when the blocks used 
by the previously-written file are laying around somewhere indeterminate.

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shred or scrub "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2014-04-16 18:17 -0400
  Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-17 04:19 -0600
    Re: shred or scrub "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2014-04-18 22:30 -0400
      Re: shred or scrub Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> - 2014-04-19 07:42 +0000
        Re: shred or scrub Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2014-04-19 10:04 +0100
      Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-19 02:15 -0600
      Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-19 23:05 +0100
        Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-20 02:47 -0600
          Re: shred or scrub John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2014-04-20 07:56 -0500
            Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-21 03:51 -0600
              Re: shred or scrub Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> - 2014-04-21 11:50 +0000
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-21 06:14 -0600
            Re: shred or scrub "Bill Cunningham" <nospam@nspam.invalid> - 2014-04-21 18:44 -0400
          Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-21 13:24 +0100
            Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-22 04:10 -0600
              Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-22 14:39 +0100
  Re: shred or scrub Kristof Provost <kristof@codepro.be> - 2014-04-17 13:15 +0000
    Re: shred or scrub John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2014-04-17 09:40 -0500
      Re: shred or scrub Kristof Provost <kristof@codepro.be> - 2014-04-18 14:40 +0000
    Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-18 02:12 -0600
      Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-18 11:49 +0200
        Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-18 09:59 -0600
          Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-21 16:14 +0200
            Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-22 04:22 -0600
              Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-23 00:06 +0200
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-23 05:50 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-24 22:46 +0200
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-25 03:57 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-25 19:14 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-26 04:02 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-27 21:26 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-28 03:27 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-28 12:17 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-28 13:01 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-29 02:50 -0600
                UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design (was: shred or scrub) Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-05 21:31 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-05 16:02 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-05-06 01:17 +0200
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-06 01:46 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-06 15:09 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-06 23:47 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-07 16:23 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-07 10:51 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-05-07 20:25 +0000
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-08 03:50 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Jerry Peters <jerry@example.invalid> - 2014-05-08 20:24 +0000
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-09 02:23 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-09 18:36 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-09 21:24 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-07 22:01 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-08 03:37 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-08 14:02 +0100
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-09 02:56 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-05-07 00:15 +0200
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-07 00:32 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Jorgen Grahn <grahn+nntp@snipabacken.se> - 2014-05-07 08:47 +0000
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-05-07 10:59 -0600
                Re: UNIX(*)/ Linux history & system design Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-05-06 14:35 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-26 16:30 +0200
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-27 05:59 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-27 20:15 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-28 03:29 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Rainer Weikusat <rweikusat@mobileactivedefense.com> - 2014-04-28 12:06 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-27 21:41 +0200
                Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-28 04:03 -0600
                Re: shred or scrub Richard Kettlewell <rjk@greenend.org.uk> - 2014-04-28 16:44 +0100
                Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-28 23:39 +0200
      Re: shred or scrub John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2014-04-18 07:37 -0500
        Re: shred or scrub crankypuss <crankypuss@nomail.invalid> - 2014-04-18 10:16 -0600
          Re: shred or scrub John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> - 2014-04-18 12:01 -0500
      Re: shred or scrub Kristof Provost <kristof@codepro.be> - 2014-04-18 14:42 +0000
  Re: shred or scrub David Brown <david.brown@hesbynett.no> - 2014-04-17 16:41 +0200

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