Questions tagged [secure-delete]

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HDD bricked after hdparm --sanitize-overwrite (SG_IO: bad/missing sense data)

On my HDD (WD RED Plus) I have performed SANITIZE using below command: hdparm --yes-i-know-what-i-am-doing --sanitize-overwrite-passes 1 --sanitize-overwrite hex:11111111 /dev/sda It was running fine,...
user241281's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
444 views

Effectiveness of sdmem on a VPS?

Does someone know if the sdmem program (part of the secure-delete tools) is effective on a VPS? I'd like to be sure I'm wiping certain private keys on a KVM VPS. I don't know why it would not be, I ...
stone.212's user avatar
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-1 votes
2 answers
296 views

Trying to erase disk content by filling all bits with "1", not "0"

I have 2 old 160GB WD drives that do not have "Security-Delete" option when querying with hdparm. I understand the current acceptance of the mechanism overwriting entire disks with zeros. ...
Eric Marceau's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
501 views

Safe deleting a LUN in VMware

I have a LUN in our VMware 6.7.0 world. For a specific project we need to safe-delete (with a standard method like DoD 5220) the data on this LUN with some kind of deletion protocol. The underlying ...
moTHO.'s user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
9k views

How can I secure erase a drive using Powershell?

Does Powershell have a built-in way to secure erase a disk? By secure erase, I mean writing random data or all zeros to the entire disk. By disk, I mean the whole physical disk, not individual files, ...
ryancdotnet's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
4k views

DD command to destroy data

Should I delete the important files of the disk and then boot into live disk and run dd command or is it okay to run dd on /dev/sda without having to delete? I'm asking this because I've already ...
user630702's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
2k views

wipe SDA using DD command

I have a question about secure delete. SDAx is ext4 and SDA5 is the root. Can I run dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=4096 while I'm connected to the server through ssh or from console? Or do I need ...
user630702's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
753 views

How to securely delete a file's NAME from the filesystem?

I want to delete a file on a linux ext4 file system such that the disk does not contain the name of the file anywhere on the disk (free space, file system metadata, or anywhere else). For example, I ...
Vahid Pazirandeh's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
78 views

securely erasing files on a network share

If I delete a file on a network share from a windows client with something like eraser, will it overwrite the actual blocks of data of said file over and over or will it write out all over the place ...
lotsofjam's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
558 views

Can I safely trim /var/tmp/phd/log/daemons.log?

I have a server running Phabricator and this log file has no logrotate. It is getting too big and now I need to trim it. Can I safely remove some of its content?
carla's user avatar
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100 votes
17 answers
88k views

Does drilling a hole into a hard drive suffice to make its data unrecoverable?

We have a lot of PCs in the company and nobody wants to wipe a multitude of hard drives. We also have many apprentice toolmakers who really want to destroy things. Thus, every couple of months, our ...
RubbelDieKatz's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
746 views

When will deleted data be permanently gone from Heroku postgres continuous backups?

According to Heroku Postgres Data Safety and Continuous Protection data is backed up continuously into Amazon S3 buckets. If I delete a bunch of rows, for example, all confidential data from 1 ...
ChrisJ's user avatar
  • 295
16 votes
4 answers
5k views

Wipe is very slow. Too little entropy?

I have to hand off a Laptop including its hard disc. Since it was not encrypted I wanted to wipe it at least quickly. I know this is not optimal on SSD, but I thought better than just plain readable. ...
user857990's user avatar
12 votes
3 answers
3k views

Potential pitfalls associated with securely deleting SSD disks

I need to decommission two SSD disks from one of my Linux hosted servers. In order to safely delete data stored in the disks I was planning to use: hdparm --security-erase. I read this document and ...
Matías's user avatar
  • 447
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Is the shred utility always safe given a good random number generator?

I recently experimented with different methods of disk randomization to find what would get the job done fastest. The openssl random number generator with AES in counter mode was said to be pretty ...
Ben Sidhom's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
2k views

Shredding data on a live server

Which is the best way to shred all data from a live dedicated server? I have no physical access nor any out of band remote management functionality to the server, only SSH access. Server is running ...
pl1nk's user avatar
  • 461
22 votes
3 answers
9k views

Securely wipe an entire Linux server with itself

I have remote ssh access and root access. I do not have physical access. I'm not looking for solutions involving booting into anything, I want to do this from what is currently running. OS is SL6. ...
cat pants's user avatar
  • 2,283
2 votes
2 answers
6k views

Does there exist a bootable USB key with shred? [closed]

Does anyone know if there exist a bootable USB key with shred that detects all harddrives and shreds them automatically? It would be great if it had a config file, where I could set the shred value ...
Sandra's user avatar
  • 10.5k
2 votes
1 answer
314 views

How do I wipe a Sun Santricity SAN Array

I need to wipe all data from an out of support SUN Santricity array before we send it to EMC for a trade in. (Yes EMC is took our SUN in part for a CX-480) Does anyone have advice on how to wipe ...
makerofthings7's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
346 views

Any way to completely remove sensitive content from the HDD before returning CentOS dedicated servers?

We are going to return a few rented CentOS dedicated servers and I was wondering about any way to remove sensitive content (a few folders) from the HDD before returning these servers? Maybe some ...
Zillo's user avatar
  • 111
3 votes
3 answers
1k views

Disk wipe preferences

I manage a pool of systems that are loaded with software and sent to potential customers for evaluations which often land sensitive information on the drives. Before shipping them back, they typically ...
hmvm123's user avatar
  • 31
12 votes
3 answers
9k views

Secure Delete on SSD

Will a "traditional" secure delete utility that overwrites physical sectors on a magnetic HDD work on an SSD, or will the SSD simply "remap" the sector to avoid the expensive delete operation and ...
ScottS's user avatar
  • 223
2 votes
7 answers
4k views

Tools to wipe a hard disk [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Deep Format of a Harddrive on a Linux System Do you know tools (Linux live CDs, bootable DOS tools) to wipe hard drives?
JPCF's user avatar
  • 164
19 votes
8 answers
10k views

Securely wipe a headless remote linux server

I'm about to terminate my relationship with my hosting provider of many years, but I'd like to securely wipe the box before I do. This is a dedicated server running Debian on a single EXT3 drive and ...
notpeter's user avatar
  • 3,525
9 votes
7 answers
21k views

Why does everybody recommend Dban over more fundamental methods?

When people ask on how to wipe a drive, it almost seems as if the default answer is DBAN and I am not really sure why. Especially when doing commands like dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda dd if=/dev/...
Recursion's user avatar
  • 619
1 vote
5 answers
671 views

Secure disk wiping tool for Windows

I need to securely wipe a drive from within Windows 7 and can't find a good tool to do so. Eraser doesn't seem to have a setting to wipe a whole drive, DBAN requires not being in Windows. Over in UNIX ...
tsvallender's user avatar
1 vote
7 answers
9k views

Wipe out hard drive on HP box using DBAN from CD?

I need to create CD for wipping out hard drives before boxes are decomitioned. Considering to use DBAN: does it matter that the boxes are running HP Unix? Will this effect anything? is there a ...
stefanB's user avatar
  • 123
-1 votes
1 answer
731 views

Make sure I have overwritten every bit with dcfldd

I am using dcfldd to wipe a drive and lear forensics. I don't really want to have to deal with the math of the blocks and sectors, and just want dd or dcfldd to write over every possible bit on the ...
Recursion's user avatar
  • 619
5 votes
7 answers
12k views

Write random data to random sectors of Hard Drive

I have a hard drive that went bad and before I send it for RMA I want to wipe as much as possible from it. I tried using windows utilities and also did dd of /dev/random. The problem is I can't wait ...
Marcin's user avatar
  • 245
3 votes
3 answers
2k views

Remotely Deleting/Wiping a Laptop

A client of mine wants to be able to remotely wipe employees company laptops upon termination. Does anybody know a good way of going about that? I know Lojack for laptops has this capability...
Brett G's user avatar
  • 2,033
6 votes
5 answers
4k views

Deep Format of a Harddrive on a Linux System

I've got an original Asus Eee PC Netbook that I'd like to sell. When I've sold old computers in the past, I've typically done a deep/secure/zeroing out style format. How can I do this on a Linux ...
Alana Storm's user avatar
5 votes
16 answers
7k views

What are some free utilities for securely wiping data from a floppy disk? [closed]

I have a stack of old floppy disks in my server room and before disposing or donating them, I want to make sure they are cleaned. Can anyone suggest some free utilities (Windows or Linux) for securely ...
user avatar
5 votes
5 answers
888 views

WipeDrive Utility?

What is the best and fastest wipe drive (zero fill) utility that can be burned to a CD?
Kredns's user avatar
  • 496