On 28/01/12 18:40, scoundrel50a wrote: > On 28/01/12 16:27, Ted Wager wrote: >> On Sat, 2012-01-28 at 14:46 +0000, Andy Smith wrote: >>> Hello, >>> >>> On Sat, Jan 28, 2012 at 10:41:36AM +0000, Ted Wager wrote: >>>> I used gparted to blank a couple of hdd's that I am getting rid of >>>> however the mbrr was not formatted and they still boot from grub. >>>> Anyone tell me how I format the drive so it is completely blank ? >>> Ah, the old "how do I securely erase a drive" chestnut. :) People >>> are often keen to go into a lot of detail about the ingenious >>> methods they use to overwrite data, destroy drives, etc. etc. >>> because clearly the security of their data is of immense importance >>> and you just can't be sure, right? >>> >>> For all practical purposes, overwriting the entire disk just once >>> with something like dd, e.g.: >>> >>> $ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4M >>> >>> will render it unrecoverable. No data recovery company will promise >>> to be able to get any data whatsoever off of that. This is the >>> quickest way to achieve what you want while still ending up with a >>> working drive. If someone thinks they can get any data off of that, >>> they should be asked why they aren't in the commercial data recovery >>> business, since they apparently know how to do it better than anyone >>> else who is. :) >>> >>> In theory there may be data left in inaccessible areas of the drive, >>> such as the spare sectors that the manufacturer included. In theory >>> an entity with a vast amount of resources may be able to take your >>> drive apart in a lab and use minute differences in magnetic field to >>> guess at what was written before the single pass of data was written >>> over the top by dd. >>> >>> If that is a realistic risk for you¹, then you may want to retire to >>> your island stronghold and instruct a henchman to run Darik's boot >>> and nuke (DBAN). This may take a day or more, especially if you use >>> one of the more thorough modes. >>> >>> If you need quick and don't care about the drive working afterwards, >>> melt the platters to liquid or grind them down to dust. >>> >>> Cheers, >>> Andy >>> >>> > > What is so wrong about wanting to be able to securely wipe an > hdd.........and why do people feel the need to be so condescending > when somebody asks about it.......trying to make the person asking > look guilty......funny thing, you seem to know how to do it, even with > the attitude...... > > > Agreed as in some cases you HAVE to ensure date can't be recovered. Or you may simply want to start over and re-install the system, so a fully blank hdd, can rule out any problems that may occur later on.
Paul -- -- http://www.zleap.net http://www.ubuntu.com skype : psutton111 -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
