Parted Magic - Which is the correct 'Wipe' Program

[allanc]

On the Parted Magic CD, which is the tool which actually wipes the hard drive properly?
Is it ‘erase disk’ or ‘pc disk eraser’.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ccomp5950]

I've always used DBAN for wiping hard drives so wouldn't know.

You might give it a go.

 

[Encrypted Existence]

I've always used DBAN for wiping hard drives so wouldn't know.

You might give it a go.

There was a recent TN article about how DBAN does not completely wipe a drive. The article gives suggestions on what to use to thoroughly wipe data from a drive. I found it interesting.

 

[SilverLeaf]

I usually just use dd from the command line and write zeros to the entire drive.

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx

This will wipe the whole drive (MBR, partition table, everything), so be very careful to make sure you input the correct drive when you type the command. It takes some time for this to complete.

Or you can fill with random data as well, which some believe to be more secure.

# dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdx

The "if=" specifies the input (zeros or random in these cases) and "of=" is the output device (hard drive) that you want to write to (probably something like /dev/sda).

More about dd here.

 

[allanc]

There was a recent TN article about how DBAN does not completely wipe a drive. The article gives suggestions on what to use to thoroughly wipe data from a drive. I found it interesting.

Me also and that article is what spurred this thread.
There are at least 2 (if not more) erase/wipe programs and I was asking which one was correct.

 

[jaydeee]

I've used Easeuse Partition Manager Home edition which has drive wiper. It worked with me nicely.

 

[lcoughey]

In linux, you are safe to use the dd command. A single pass wipe is good enough, as long as you are 100% sure you clear all sectors.

You may also want to look at MHDD. It is a useful tool for erasing drives, but is also helpful for testing them too.

 

[PCS]

I've recently discovered PartedMagic and really love it, using it daily to test and wipe old HDDs.

This was a question i was hunting the other day. I think the first option (External(dd disk):Employs "dd" to write Zeroes to the selected drive.) is sufficient.

The TN article about how DBAN pointed to a program which is actually the last option in Parted - (Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area.)

The last option is the one i always do unless it is not supported by the drive (rare unless its a very old 40gb HDD)

 

[allanc]

I've recently discovered PartedMagic and really love it, using it daily to test and wipe old HDDs.

This was a question i was hunting the other day. I think the first option (External(dd disk):Employs "dd" to write Zeroes to the selected drive.) is sufficient.

The TN article about how DBAN pointed to a program which is actually the last option in Parted - (Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area.)

The last option is the one i always do unless it is not supported by the drive (rare unless its a very old 40gb HDD)

Sorry, but the last option on the System Tools is 'emelFM2'.
Is that what you are referring to?

 

[phaZed]

Sorry, but the last option on the System Tools is 'emelFM2'.
Is that what you are referring to?

I think he is referring to "Erase Disk" last option of "Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area" (Which is what is on mine too).. and which I use as a first choice too.

 

[allanc]

I think he is referring to "Erase Disk" last option of "Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area" (Which is what is on mine too).. and which I use as a first choice too.

I am not that familiar with Linux or the PartedMagic.
However, if I click the equivalent of the Windows 'Start' button then 'System Tools' ... the 'Erase Disk' is the third ICON from the top.
Is this what you are referring to?

Edit:
The PartedMagic that I am using is on the UBCD for DOS.

 

[Ccomp5950]

There was a recent TN article about how DBAN does not completely wipe a drive. The article gives suggestions on what to use to thoroughly wipe data from a drive. I found it interesting.

It doesn't wipe the host protected area or sectors marked as bad. Unless you have absolute requirements for how to erase a drive DBAN is going to be fine for most of your customers, the lawyers, the doctors and such you'll want to fit within their regulations.

If you absolutely need those areas wiped secure erase can work as long as you get around the "security freeze" of the bios in most cases (sleep and wake up your system will do this (sudo pm-suspend)).

then you could use hdparm to set the master password (need security set to high to use SE)

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass password /dev/sdX

where /dev/sdX is the device you want to erase and "password" is the password you want to set (and assuming it's not already set).

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase password /dev/sdX

 

[PCS]

I think he is referring to "Erase Disk" last option of "Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area" (Which is what is on mine too).. and which I use as a first choice too.

Sorry, Thats what i ment. last option of secure erase.

Just a heads up, i used Internal:Secure Erase command writes to entire data area. option on 2 seagate 500gb IDE HDD and I'm nolonger able to create a partition on these drives.

Tried Windows, Partition tool in PartedMagic, Seatools and acronis. looks like there toast.

 

[Deadeye]

The only reason that i can see to keep a hard drive would be for you own personal use, in which case secure wiping isn't necessary, or to resell a computer, in which case you might be better off replacing the hard drive. they usually don't cost more than $100 any how (data is gone, and drive is in good shape). Most consumers and companies will not have an issue with you totally destroying the drive rather than risk the recovery of it's data. And if you are reselling the computer, the OS is linked to the motherboard, not the hard drive, so you won't have to buy a new OS.

my two cents

 

[computersnmore]

Try going to administrative tools - Computer Management - Disk management - on the Disk box (Disk 0 or other number) right click and initialize disk. Then you should be able to partition and format...

 

[TimM]

I use CopyWipe (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.php). It's free, comes in both a Windows and a bootable DOS version, and provides 9 different methods of erasing the disk. They range from a simple overwrite of zeros, through several multiple passes of random data methods as well as using the disk's inbuilt secure delete.
It's also a great tool for copying an old drive to a new one and resizing the partitions to fit.

 

[allanc]

I use CopyWipe (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/copywipe.php). It's free, comes in both a Windows and a bootable DOS version, and provides 9 different methods of erasing the disk. They range from a simple overwrite of zeros, through several multiple passes of random data methods as well as using the disk's inbuilt secure delete.
It's also a great tool for copying an old drive to a new one and resizing the partitions to fit.

Thanks.
Also available on the UBCD for DOS.