[plug] HDD Erasure

[Jonathan Young]

You can also try:

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda

and let it run until the end of the disk is reached.  It may take a few 
hours. Once it completes, repeat it again as many times as you feel you 
want to.

You could also alternate to

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

This will do a zero fill.

I would personally recommend 3 to 7 wipes with random stuff as I have 
used and tested (tried to recover data) using this method and was 
pleased with the results under the exact same cirumstances (handing 
corporate laptops to ex-staff as leaving presents!).

Can see any problem with either of these commands doing exactly what you 
want.  But it's real late at night, so include in there the usual 
disclaimer... RTFM, ensure /dev/hda IS the drive you want to wipe etc. etc.

I suspect you would need root access for this kind of operation too, 
though I doubt you would be doing it as anything else.

- Jonathan.

Chris Watt wrote:

>Mainly its just clients who are paranoid about bank details etc. 
>Mainly WinXP machines too, any Windows programs that will replace the
>entire drive with blank data.  Several times? :P
>
>~Chris
>
>
>
>On 11/12/05, Tomasz Grzegurzko <tomasz_g at arach.net.au> wrote:
>  
>
>>cat /dev/random > /dev/hda
>>
>>Seems like a good way. But I think the general idea is to overwrite with
>>something (or crap in this case) and that is usually enough for everyone
>>but the NSA =)
>>
>>Tomasz
>>
>>Chris Watt wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi Guys,
>>>
>>>Just curious if there is any way to seriously wipe a HDD beyond the
>>>point of retreival by anyone?  As far as I'm aware it isn't possible
>>>without the pysical destruction of the drive.  If someone knows of
>>>something though?
>>>
>>>~Chris
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
>>>http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
>>>Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
>>http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
>>Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>>
>>    
>>
>_______________________________________________
>PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
>http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
>Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>
>  
>


-- 
Jonathan Young
Director of PC-PHIX
jonathan at pcphix.com

Phone: 0410 455 674
Web: http://www.pcphix.com/

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