Method
An overwrite session consists of a lead-in of four random write patterns, followed by patterns 5 to 31 (see rows of table below), executed in a random order, and a lead-out of four more random patterns.
Each of patterns 5 to 31 was designed with a specific magnetic media encoding scheme in mind, which each pattern targets. The drive is written to for all the passes even though the table below only shows the bit patterns for the passes that are specifically targeted at each encoding scheme. The end result should obscure any data on the drive so that only the most advanced physical scanning (e.g., using a magnetic force microscope) of the drive is likely to be able to recover any data.
The series of patterns is as follows:
| Pass | Data Written | Pattern written to disk for targeted encoding scheme | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Binary notation | In Hex notation | (1,7) RLL | (2,7) RLL | MFM | |
| 1 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 2 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 3 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 4 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 5 | 01010101 01010101 01010101 | 55 55 55 | 100... | 000 1000... | |
| 6 | 10101010 10101010 10101010 | AA AA AA | 00 100... | 0 1000... | |
| 7 | 10010010 01001001 00100100 | 92 49 24 | 00 100000... | 0 100... | |
| 8 | 01001001 00100100 10010010 | 49 24 92 | 0000 100000... | 100 100... | |
| 9 | 00100100 10010010 01001001 | 24 92 49 | 100000... | 00 100... | |
| 10 | 00000000 00000000 00000000 | 00 00 00 | 101000... | 1000... | |
| 11 | 00010001 00010001 00010001 | 11 11 11 | 0 100000... | ||
| 12 | 00100010 00100010 00100010 | 22 22 22 | 00000 100000... | ||
| 13 | 00110011 00110011 00110011 | 33 33 33 | 10... | 1000000... | |
| 14 | 01000100 01000100 01000100 | 44 44 44 | 000 100000... | ||
| 15 | 01010101 01010101 01010101 | 55 55 55 | 100... | 000 1000... | |
| 16 | 01100110 01100110 01100110 | 66 66 66 | 0000 100000... | 000000 10000000... | |
| 17 | 01110111 01110111 01110111 | 77 77 77 | 100010... | ||
| 18 | 10001000 10001000 10001000 | 88 88 88 | 00 100000... | ||
| 19 | 10011001 10011001 10011001 | 99 99 99 | 0 100000... | 00 10000000... | |
| 20 | 10101010 10101010 10101010 | AA AA AA | 00 100... | 0 1000... | |
| 21 | 10111011 10111011 10111011 | BB BB BB | 00 101000... | ||
| 22 | 11001100 11001100 11001100 | CC CC CC | 0 10... | 0000 10000000... | |
| 23 | 11011101 11011101 11011101 | DD DD DD | 0 101000... | ||
| 24 | 11101110 11101110 11101110 | EE EE EE | 0 100010... | ||
| 25 | 11111111 11111111 11111111 | FF FF FF | 0 100... | 000 100000... | |
| 26 | 10010010 01001001 00100100 | 92 49 24 | 00 100000... | 0 100... | |
| 27 | 01001001 00100100 10010010 | 49 24 92 | 0000 100000... | 100 100... | |
| 28 | 00100100 10010010 01001001 | 24 92 49 | 100000... | 00 100... | |
| 29 | 01101101 10110110 11011011 | 6D B6 DB | 0 100... | ||
| 30 | 10110110 11011011 01101101 | B6 DB 6D | 100... | ||
| 31 | 11011011 01101101 10110110 | DB 6D B6 | 00 100... | ||
| 32 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 33 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 34 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
| 35 | (Random) | (Random) | |||
Encoded bits shown in bold are what should be present in the ideal pattern, although due to the encoding the complementary bit is actually present at the start of the track.
Read more about this topic: Gutmann Method
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