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.
I generally take the drives out to the desert and use /sbin/detonate. As Jamie Hyneman once said on "Mythbusters"...
When in doubt....C4! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer ricks@nerd.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - The world is coming to an end ... SAVE YOUR FILES!!! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------