[SOLVED] Wanted: a lowlevel tool to erase data from harddisks completely.

Sjonnie48 · 03-09-2011, 10:02 AM

For several days I have tried to create a new raid5 array, after accidently blowing up the old one.
But it seems that the raid data was burned into the harddisks ineradicably. I keep seeing the raid data that was used for the old array. I have tried everything to remove the old data, even installed a new distro but still I see the old data.
My last hope is to erase the disks with a lowlevel tool to make a clean start.
Any advice on available tools is welcome.

andrewthomas · 03-09-2011, 10:05 AM

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/...g_a_hard_drive

szboardstretcher · 03-09-2011, 10:06 AM

I had this issue on a raid setup a while back...

I ended up booting up on one drive at a time and formatting them, then later joining them again. Took a while. But hey, Im billable by the hour.

jefro · 03-09-2011, 04:11 PM

Array data is not burned into a disk. It is part of the array controller if it is a true hardware raid.

When you boot up to array bios use the tools to delete the array and create a new one.

business_kid · 03-10-2011, 11:50 AM

If you have data on some disk, and especially if you can leave stuff running overnight, shred is a much ignored utility to erase files/disks teetotally. man shred.