fdisk or do I need to do something completely different?
 

Hello All!
I am a complete novice to Linux and basically only use it for one purpose: DVR's for security camera systems. I have a unit that's simply rack mounted computer with linux and the DVR software. We had used it as a tester/example because it was so big, now we want to sell it. first thing i have to do is erase the hard drive. I have no idea how to do that. All i can figure out from the root menu (basically the first screen after the bios) is that there is grub> I don't see anything like ubantu or anything else I know how to access. I see 3 options: DVR system, Upgrade DVR System and DVR System Config. There is nothing in the DVR software to erase the recorded information, because DVR's are made for holding and keeping your video, not getting rid of it (not easily anyway). So, my first thought is to go into the grub> command thing and run fdisk but I am concerned this will wipe the system completely and I don't want to do that. I have disconnected the hdd to see if i can put it on my windows pc and rebooted the system and the dvr doesn't need the hdd in order to work (just as a means of storage).

So my question the the world of experts: should i run fdisk or should i find another way?

Thanks in advance for your response!

Read this:

http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2006/0...sk-before.html

fdisk will zero out the filesystems meta-data but will not erase data. FYI grub has only a limited shell capability and can not run regular bash commands. If you can not gain access to a shell via booting to the DVR system you will need to remove the disk and connect it to another linux system.

You might want to check out shred.

I've not used it myself, but I found this write-up.

try www.dban.org

The OP indicated lack of Linux skills - possibly no Linux PC.
The above could be done on the Windows machine if you use a Linux liveCD - these run completely from CD and don't affect your windows system at all.
Personally I'd avoid DBAN - it threatened to nuke *all* my hard disks last time I looked at it (some time ago admittedly).

BTW, fdisk will do nothing to secure your data - not even the metadata.

Depends on the sensitivity of the data. Bu given the straight forward case, since you have already detached the disk it seems to me that in your case you should just format it in another OS, use it in your company for some time and dump lots of trivial data onto it. Then delete all data and format the disk once again.

If you want to use linux for this, then attach this disk to another linux system and then delete it.

End

the problem there is i dont have another cpu with the same hard drive connections (SATA or PATA, I have no idea anymore) I might just get another hdd and say forget it on this poor thing...anyone want to buy a slightly used 8 Channel DVR?

Are there any other ideas like to wipe the hdd from the bios or anything along those lines?

Thanks for all the responses.

Have you looked at all the features / menus of the DVR OS system? There could be a format drive function. You could purchase a USB IDE/SATA adapter to connect the drive to another system erase the data.

oh yeah, definitely checked everything. just had a thought I'll let you know how it turns out.

its weird that you cant delete video from your dvr (its like a digital camera that cant delete photos).

if you are able to get to a bash shell (not grub shell), you can use fdisk to delete/create the partitions and mkfs to reformat.

is there a way to plug in a keyboard to the thing.
does ctrl-alt-f4 do anything ?