Final answer:
Purging, as referred to in the NIST Guidelines, includes overwriting the entire storage medium with a specific pattern of data to make the original data irretrievable by standard recovery methods.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the NIST Guidelines for Media Sanitation, an example of purging includes overwriting the entire medium with a specific pattern of data. Purging is a method used to render the data on the storage media unrecoverable by normal means. It essentially ensures that the original data cannot be retrieved or reconstructed even with sophisticated data recovery tools. Techniques for purging include, but are not limited to, overwriting with all zeros, all ones, or a pseudorandom sequence of bits, often multiple times. Other methods may involve degaussing, where a strong magnetic field is used to disrupt the magnetic domains on the disk, making it extremely difficult to recover the original data.