Wiping Disk Software - is full edition worth it?

[Mikey_Gore]

There are three main methods :-
One random pass (1 pass), US DoD 5200.28-STD(7 passes), Peter Gutman(35 passes) method.

I guess its straightforward what the differences are, more wipes equals less chance of recovery.

What I want to know is, does:

One random pass (executed 7 times) = US DoD 5200.28-STD (executed once)?

I am curios, since there are many free trial disk wiping utilities online that allow the one random pass. And if we are using it to wipe free disk space, why bother with paying money to use the others? I can understand that if we are using it to delete with wiping we would need it, since the file is effectively gone.

Thanks

 

[SNGX1275]

Absolutely no reason for individuals to pay for disk wiping utilities. Get Darik's Boot and Nuke - http://www.dban.org/

Their page says they don't guarantee it, so if you work for a company and absolutely have to have someone to sue in case your stuff gets stolen after wiping the disk, then pay for software. Otherwise dban is going to be perfect. They won't guarantee it for legal reasons, that is it, it is still going to wipe your stuff with several methods/passes available.