Shred ( really delete )
by Sanju[ Edit ] 2009-11-03 14:16:31
Shred
shred - delete a file securely, first overwriting it to hide its contents
Syntax
shred [OPTIONS] FILE [...]
DESCRIPTION
Overwrite the specified FILE(s) repeatedly, in order to make it harder for even very expensive hardware probing to recover the data.
Here is the basic command:
$ shred -n 50 -z -u test.txt
The -n 50 means that the file "test.txt" will be overwritten 50 times. The -z means add a final overwrite with zeros to hide the shredding. The -u makes sure the file is removed after shred is done with it.
You can shred a complete drive or partition too:
# shred -n 50 -z /dev/hda
This will make sure that no data will be found when you send this drive to the local dump
