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New Toshiba Drives Wipe Data When Turned Off

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the how's-that-gonna-work dept.

CWmike writes "Toshiba on Tuesday introduced a new hard drive feature that can wipe out data after the storage devices are powered down. The Wipe feature in Toshiba's SED (Self-Encrypting Drives) will allow for deletion of secure data prior to disposing or re-purposing hard drives, Toshiba said. The technology invalidates a hard-drive security key when a system's power supply is turned off. The new Wipe capability will go into future versions of the SED drives, for which no timeframe was given. Beyond use in PCs, Toshiba wants to put this feature on storage devices in copiers and printers."

14 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess it was either that, or telling everyone they were holding it wrong.

  2. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by cosm · · Score: 2, Funny

    16. Porn.
    17. More Porn.

    Lets not be shortsighted.

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
  3. Congratulations... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You invented random-access memory. Good job!

    1. Re:Congratulations... by Amouth · · Score: 2, Funny

      actually they realized that they could make a market for their self encrypting disks where the nvram to store the keys was bad... 

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    2. Re:Congratulations... by sixfootfive · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sounds more like Toshiba said, "Hey, we have this lot of bad drive" why don't we classify them as wipe feature enabled.

  4. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Funny

    16. Porn.
    17. More Porn.

    Lets not be shortsighted.

    Take your own advice. Do you think any self respecting slashdotter is going to put his porn on a drive that erases itself when poweres down? Heck most of us won't trust our collection to anything short of RAID6!

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  5. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by Ironhandx · · Score: 3, Funny

    Raid 1+0 here. When you gotta have it, you gotta have it. Access delays not allowed.

  6. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by AndrewNeo · · Score: 2, Funny

    You power down your machines?

  7. SED? by lowrydr310 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've always thought SED stood for "Smoke Emitting Diode"

    It's my favorite electronic component, but the only problem is that they only work once.

  8. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by Deosyne · · Score: 4, Funny

    I haven't calculated the odds of both of the UPS units and the generator attached to the porn cluster failing at the exact same time, but that's just not a chance that I'm willing to take.

  9. Re:Lots of uses for this technology... by tepples · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do you think any self respecting slashdotter is going to put his porn on a drive that erases itself when poweres down?

    It depends on the country and the subject of the pornography. Some countries persecute and/or prosecute people who collect erotic pictures of some subjects.

  10. Re:I find this hard to believe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Anything past one pass of zeros is just extra credit.

    We all grew up as overachieving teacher's-pet nerds in high school. "Extra credit" is another word for "bare minimum" to us.

  11. Re:It's just a RAM disk then? by tepples · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember RAM disks?

    Is that an operating instruction?

    Yes. In context, it means "speculatively load what you know about the basics of RAM file systems".

  12. IT Crowd... by g4b · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Maybe you are holding it wrong"
    "Have you tried turning it off and on again?"