Wipe clean external HDD


Recommended Posts

Hi

I am looking at some options to wipe clean my external 1TB Segate Goflex USD HDD. I want to do it on Linux (my desktop machine) - ubuntu 10.04LTS coz it can be left powered on for hours (even overnight). What i need to know is should i go for the Linux commands like shred or wipe OR go with the most popular DBAN. Is there any markable difference between the two methods. I read somewhere that the linux wipe/shred command is powerful than the Guttman pass and other DBAN methods?

Also if its DBAN, how can i install it on Ubuntu.?

Here are some of the specs i am referring.

http://www.howtogeek...pcs-hard-drive/

http://www.addictive...-by-step-guide/

Cheers.

Mark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dban is a bootable disc you need to use, they dont run within linux or windows. Burn the ISO to a cd/dvd and boot off the cd/dvd

Active@KillDisk is the similar where you need to create a bootable disc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What exactly are you trying to do? wipe it so that the average nerd can't get to it, or wipe it so that the government can't get to it? writing 0's across the whole drive is effective enough for the nerd, a hard drive shredder is what is needed for the government to be safe.

In case you have no clue what I am talking about meet a hard drive shredder:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What exactly are you trying to do? wipe it so that the average nerd can't get to it, or wipe it so that the government can't get to it? writing 0's across the whole drive is effective enough for the nerd, a hard drive shredder is what is needed for the government to be safe.

In case you have no clue what I am talking about meet a hard drive shredder:

Holy Cow..I just want to wipe/shred by commands not literally "SHRED" my drive like this... !

Dban is a bootable disc you need to use, they dont run within linux or windows. Burn the ISO to a cd/dvd and boot off the cd/dvd

Active@KillDisk is the similar where you need to create a bootable disc

Will give this a look.

simple! write a small java program saving nothing but empty files to your HDD and then format in the morning! done ;D

Too techy for me..

I just use the free utilities from Western Digital --- writes zeros to the drive.

Dont have them in seagate :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay CCleaner it is then. Assuming that I use win XP inside a VM (Vm's config = core-2, 1GB RAM) how long would it take a full 1TB external HDD to wipe clean using 1 pass only.

The reason i am using VM is that i cant reinstall win on that machine, dont have privilage, (my dad uses it for office work). and my personal laptop (i7 quad core, 8GB RAM) would not like to stay up overnight. I dont want to put too much pressure on my newbie.

Cheers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if your on linux, you can just do a dd command to wipe the hdd, be it external/internal

if your hard drive was sda, might be hda or sdb, etc. This would write randoms vs 0

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=1M

this would write 0's

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if your on linux, you can just do a dd command to wipe the hdd, be it external/internal

if your hard drive was sda, might be hda or sdb, etc. This would write randoms vs 0

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=1M

this would write 0's

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

Just for my knowledge, what does the bs=1M part indicate? Also, if i wipe the entire 1TB drive by creating multiple partitions of lesser size, that would cut down on time taken. Two Questions:

1.Would it be safe (will it damage drive by any means?)

2.Is it recommended?

We can wipe partitions as wells, i am referring to this link

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay CCleaner it is then. Assuming that I use win XP inside a VM (Vm's config = core-2, 1GB RAM) how long would it take a full 1TB external HDD to wipe clean using 1 pass only.

The reason i am using VM is that i cant reinstall win on that machine, dont have privilage, (my dad uses it for office work). and my personal laptop (i7 quad core, 8GB RAM) would not like to stay up overnight. I dont want to put too much pressure on my newbie.

Cheers

lol Seriously? Thats what you bought the i7 for right? To be the powerhouse machine sort of!!! Use the crap out of it... What do you mean by pressure? Its like you think a computer has feelings :-p

if your on linux, you can just do a dd command to wipe the hdd, be it external/internal

if your hard drive was sda, might be hda or sdb, etc. This would write randoms vs 0

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=1M

this would write 0's

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

Dont confuse the poor lad! He obviously doesnt know that much about the tool dd if he is asking which tools to use to wipe an external drive! Heck I am a so called Power User and even the dd tool scares the crap out of me sometimes :-p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

bs just means blocksize - how much data to work with at a time is all. Not really the important aspect of the command. You could use whatever bs you wanted in the command. But if you google for wiping disk with dd, you will find bs=1M is commonly used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.