First off it bothers me that your question has not been answered and as old as these posts are you probably won't get to see the answer as I doubt you are checking for one anymore.
The answer to your question is the CIA, NSA, DOD, FBI, SECRET SERVICE, and about any other government agency will be able to recover bits and pieces of data after a Gutmann wipe but NO ONE will be able to completely recover data wiped with the Gutmann method.**
I know that many people say they can but this is not true, what an agency does is TRY to recover enough data to be able to estimate or guess what the missing data is, and thereby in theory effectively recover wiped data. Now for the kicker : This costs 10's of thousands of dollars for small amounts of data and varies for files of the same size, this is why, it takes several man hours just to recover small files and thereby takes long periods of time which an agency is not willing to spend unless the data is highly valuable.**
LOCAL law enforcement does not have the equipment or funds to do this, and most data recovery (if it works) takes longer than the law allows before you must be taken to trial if charges have been filed.
To protect data from recovery you should encrypt the data (never save the key to hard drive) then when you are done with it delete it with the Gutmann method with a program that then replaces the data with new data, ie... a picture of your birthday suit (me.jpg) is wiped then the program replaces it with another file (Niagarafalls.jpg). This is if you are really paranoid and want to make sure your data won't be recovered.
If the idea is to remove a file on a hard drive that you are still using then the likelihood of it ever being recovered is very very low with a standard shredding algorithm, but if you plan to sell or give the hard drive away then the Gutmann method will prevent anyone ,Not a government agency, from recovering your personal files. Of course anyone who has the equipment and time can actually try to recover a single pass with the Gutmann method but unless you have the Nuclear launch codes for a country, or other information of such high value (the lottery numbers for next year) and they know it, I really don't see it happening. (hint: two passes with the Gutmann method increases by nearly double the cost of recovery and the amount of data that can not be recovered, and the amount of time since the wipe causes recovery issues as well, ie.. more data can be recovered from a HDD that was wiped today as apposed to one that was wiped a month ago.) **
As of yet I have been unable to find a single instance of any agency recovering data to be used for prosecution that was wiped with a file shredder let alone one using the Gutmann method. However I know of several instances where a person was prosecuted for items that had been deleted and recovered, I know of one such case where files of an illegal nature was sent to a defendant who immediately deleted them and they were then recovered by law enforcement days after their deletion, in this case a room mate who had been ask to move out reported the files to the police and latter admitted that he knew that the defendant had not sought out the files and had received them in an e-mail without knowing what the files were prior to downloading them. The defendant now has a criminal record and conviction, just because he checked his e-mail.
**NOTE: I have been unable to find a single proven case of ANYONE recovering a file after it was removed using the Gutmann method. This method uses 28 more passes than is required by the U.S. Government for top-secret data, so if they see 7 wipes with a lesser algorithm as sufficient for our Government secrets then I think (That's the best I'm allowed to say) Your safe with the Gutmann method, I use the Gutmann method and I'm required to be very paranoid!
If you need a realy good program for wipeing files,folders,HDD's, and freespace then you might try this totaly free program called Eraser, You can find it here :
http://eraser.heidi.ie/
I have nothing to do with this program or anyone involved with it, I just use it.
Who can crack the Gutmann method?
Proven : NO ONE
Rumored : U.S. Government agencies (UNPROVEN)
