Privacy Question

If i wanted to make my data close to unrecoverable without having to destroy my hard drive, would using a good encryption program and then a drive wiper such as DBAN make data very very very very difficult to recover?

 

That's the best way to prevent data recovery

 

Actually, many security pros suggest fully encrypting a hard drive with strong encryption, a very strong password (that you don't even have to remember) and consider the drive and its contents protected forever. The wipe after the above would just be icing on the cake.

 

DBAN and its Gutmann wipe method will destroy any data on your harddisk in a few days.

 

Any recommendations for this kind of strong encryption software?

 

TrueCrypt

 

Thanks for Truecrypt. Are there any others that are recommended (price isnt an issue)?

 

PGP, Jetico BestCrypt
Open Source is the way to go regarding encryption.

 

Thanks mate

 

I agree about open-source and encryption. So....how does BestCrypt get on your list? Did you maybe mean Truecrypt?

 

The Gutmann 35-pass method is no better for modern drives than a random 3-pass wipe. Gutmann says so himself!
Why recommend a time wasting and obsolete method?

 

I gave him alternatives to TrueCrypt