Add shred to nautilus context menu.

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Ocky, Jun 29, 2009.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Ocky

    Ocky Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2006
    Posts:
    2,713
    Location:
    George, S.Africa
    Ubuntu already has shred, but for convenience sake it can
    be added to the nautilus context menu. To do this install
    nautilus-actions (it can be found in Synaptic).
    Can of course be used in the terminal where it's fun
    to watch all the overwrites in action.
    Good enough for home users wanting to securely delete
    sensitive files.
    See little gif for how to add to context menu.
    (Of course you must select 'Add' in nautilus actions. I only selected 'Edit'
    because I have already added it).
    To shred a file:-
    shred -f -v -z -u file.txt

    -f: change permissions to allow writing if necessary
    -v: verbose, to display the progress
    -z: add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shredding
    -u: truncate and remove file after overwriting
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Jun 29, 2009
  2. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

    Joined:
    May 9, 2005
    Posts:
    10,215
    PM me mate, please ... :)
    Mrk
     
  3. Ocky

    Ocky Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2006
    Posts:
    2,713
    Location:
    George, S.Africa
    This PM stuff is new to me, but I have enabled it. Hope you like my gif ..:D
    Nothing more in pipeline for now I'm afraid.
    Regards.
     
  4. steve161

    steve161 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2006
    Posts:
    681
    Location:
    New York
    There is a similar shred script at gnome-look.org that can be added to nautilus-actions. It also gives a warning and confirmation dialogue (good for absent-minded users or those whose mouse skills are on the sloppy side).
     
  5. Ocky

    Ocky Registered Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2006
    Posts:
    2,713
    Location:
    George, S.Africa
    Forgot to mention that as an alternative to dd command, you can also use shred to wipe the whole drive.
    Eg. shred -verbose /dev/sda1
    shred -vfz -n 5 /dev/sda1 ( shred will make 5 passes instead of the default 25, additionally overwriting the disk with zeroes -z, and changing permissions if necessary -f)

    Haven't done this myself because I am pleased with the way things are. :)

    Edit: You can try it with a floppy to see if it is up to scratch ... dev/fd0
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2009
  6. chronomatic

    chronomatic Registered Member

    Joined:
    Apr 9, 2009
    Posts:
    1,343
    Yep, I typically use shred instead of dd when wiping a hard drive. The only change I would make to your command is:

    Code:
    shred -vfz -n 1 /dev/sda
    One pass is all that is needed to make data unrecoverable. Or, if you don't want zeroes, you can use random bits by using the "--random-source" flag.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.