2009/5/30 Patrick O'Callaghan pocallaghan@gmail.com:
On Fri, 2009-05-29 at 23:37 +0100, Sharpe, Sam J wrote:
2009/5/29 Jussi Lehtola jussilehtola@fedoraproject.org:
Quoting "Sharpe, Sam J" sam.sharpe+lists.redhat@gmail.com:
2009/5/29 Alan Cox alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk:
'shred' is part of coreutils (i.e. installed by default). Doing something like
shred /dev/sdX
as root will write various bit patterns 25 times over the entire drive (see the man page for more options).
Whoopeeedoo. Thats still not the correct way to erase a disk.
Use security erase, that is why it is there.
I use a hammer, because it wins over all other solutions on both ease of use and catharsis.
For laptop (1.8" and 2.5") disks, sure. A couple of good bangs and you have yourself a maraca.
I haven't so far been able to destroy 3.5" disks with a hammer, as the enclosure is quite durable. A sledgehammer would probably do the trick. Or, you can open up the hard drive and smash the magnetic disks.
I use some of the undocumented options to /usr/sbin/hammer that are relevant to larger disks:
hammer --unscrewfirst|-u disassemble the drive using a tork wrench first before smashing the platters hammer --force|-f use more force with the hammer
NOTE: use of -u and -f together is discouraged unless wearing suitable protective equipment.
You're forgetting the -v (verbose) option:
# hammer -v /dev/sda bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang
I was trying to be funny. You succeeded. Well done Sir!