Apparently even after you format a drive there is a ghost of an image of old data that gets left on it - it's still stored (if in degraded condition) in the magnetic fields of the drive. This ghost image is further degraded every time the drive is formatted. After you format the drive 7 times you've given yourself a near certainty that any data on the drive at the start of the process will be unretrievable.
Th FORMAT command created an "UNDO/UNFORMAT mirror on the hard drive as a default state
with a format command " format c: /u "
where "U" means "Unconditional" -- do NOT create the "undo"
If I remember all that basic DOS stuff from way back.
I see. Thanks for 'splainin.
Anyone know how to remove a pop-up stuck in registry files? Driving me nuts.
Random generated patterns overwriting free space (multiple times) is a good option.
Still, US GOV; DOD, Spook central Tempest specifications require the complete physical destruction of the data medium when its retired. Even media that's NEVER been used!