Completely Erase Your Hard Drive, Get rid of your tracks.
This has different classes of erasing, even the legendary Guttman Wipe and it’s completely FREE.
It’s a linux based bootable Floppy/CD that has different kinds of Wipes, it is very easy to use, all you do is run the program, put in a floppy, let it write to the floppy and then boot the computer off the floppy. Once you boot to you can choose what kind of wipe by pressing m, once you choose you can just start by pressing F10.
The main use of this program is not for an emergency, but for when you are selling or throwing out a computer that has your personal data on it. It is probably a bit overkill for that, probably as long as you over-write the whole drive once no one will get the information unless they have special equipment. But everybody likes overkill anyway, just in case. Physical destruction is probably the best policy in an emergency. If you were really doing anything to secretive you should probably keep everything encrypted initially (using something like TrueCrypt) from the start anyway, then if someone steals your computer they won’t have your info, unless they crack the encryption.
In the art of intrusion, some guys saved their asses by nuking their harddrive a few days before they got busted. Good utility if you plan on pulling something similar. This utility should be called “Self-important Paranoid Fantasy Enhancer”.
I don’t see why you can’t just use a very large electromagnet on max settings and pass it over your HDD(s) a couple of times? You can create an electromagnet with supplies from home depot, and it will erase information off your computer with the quickness. The DOD use such devices, although they refer to them as degausers. There is some sort of rule of thumb for the minimum amount of flux the magnetic field has to induce to provide the erasing results, but as long as you make the magnet strong enough, it will work. And by powerful I do not mean super powerful, you could actually rig it so that you can run it off a car battery incase the feds knock down your door with a l33t battering ram.
You can also erase your HDD without software in three easy steps:
1) Remove HDD from case.
2) Immerse HDD in tub full of water.
3) ROTF LMAO!!!
Errr… there would still be data on the disk. The sledge and or even a bonfire would work better.
The Platform Independant version that supports PPC’s has come in the most useful way. The people who refuse to update their computers due to “software conflictions” and “hardware” problems are the most gullable to believe that thir computer just fried on its own. Anyways, the PPC version is supported by any platform.