LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 01-21-2010, 04:49 AM   #1
kirukan
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Eelam
Distribution: Redhat, Solaris, Suse
Posts: 1,278

Rep: Reputation: 148Reputation: 148
Clean confidential data from harddisk


As i said in title, we need to erase all datas from harddisk before distroy our old servers.

Quote:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=1M
Quote:
shred -fzuv -n 100 /dev/hda
1. Which is the best practice to erase data, dd or shred?
2. How can i execute these commands in running server, do i need to re-boot the servers as RESCUE mode using bootable cd?
 
Old 01-21-2010, 05:16 AM   #2
theboogymaster
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Jan 2010
Location: Switzerland
Distribution: Ubuntu
Posts: 7

Rep: Reputation: 0
Quote:
Originally Posted by kirukan View Post
As i said in title, we need to erase all datas from harddisk before distroy our old servers.

1. Which is the best practice to erase data, dd or shred?
I think the best one is shred cause it will write the Hard Disck a lot of times and the data can't be read anymore.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kirukan View Post
2. How can i execute these commands in running server, do i need to re-boot the servers as RESCUE mode using bootable cd?
Yes you need to mount the Hard Drive separatly.

Last edited by theboogymaster; 01-21-2010 at 05:17 AM.
 
Old 01-21-2010, 05:24 AM   #3
jschiwal
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Fargo, ND
Distribution: SuSE AMD64
Posts: 15,733

Rep: Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682
Using a count of 100 is absurdly high. After 2 writes of random data, I doubt anyone will be able to read them.
I would recommend using DBAN to securely erase the disk drives.

Even better is to use a tool that uses a function in the drives themselves to do the same.
You could also take a drill and drill through the drives. Many modern drives have ceramic platters so a large hammer would word to smash the platters to bits.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 01-21-2010, 08:12 AM   #4
kirukan
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Eelam
Distribution: Redhat, Solaris, Suse
Posts: 1,278

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 148Reputation: 148
1. Can i do this task in RESCUE mode by booting bootable CD?
OR
2. Can i do this in single user mode?
we don't reuse this hardware, just only need to erase the data
 
Old 01-21-2010, 08:24 AM   #5
linus72
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jan 2009
Location: Gordonsville-AKA Mayberry-Virginia
Distribution: Slack14.2/Many
Posts: 5,573

Rep: Reputation: 470Reputation: 470Reputation: 470Reputation: 470Reputation: 470
you can use a livecd
do you have one?

there are many apps for this, dd, dban, secure-delete wipe

I have most stuff like that on 503box-Chrome
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...86-53783.shtml

however, there are many linux livecd's for this
SystemRescueCD
DVL damn vulnerable linux

of course none of them have my eye-candy

google for the specific apps like dban, etc
 
Old 01-21-2010, 09:19 AM   #6
H_TeXMeX_H
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: $RANDOM
Distribution: slackware64
Posts: 12,928
Blog Entries: 2

Rep: Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301Reputation: 1301
If you have a sledgehammer lying around and some safety goggles that will work fine too and it'll take less time. Thermite is also an option, as are large magnets.
 
Old 01-21-2010, 09:23 AM   #7
kirukan
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Eelam
Distribution: Redhat, Solaris, Suse
Posts: 1,278

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 148Reputation: 148
Can i use Knoppix for live CD?
 
Old 01-21-2010, 11:18 AM   #8
jschiwal
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Fargo, ND
Distribution: SuSE AMD64
Posts: 15,733

Rep: Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682Reputation: 682
Knoppix should be fine. As long as it's kernel has kernel modules for your disk controllers.
 
Old 01-21-2010, 02:14 PM   #9
Quads
Member
 
Registered: Jul 2008
Location: Indiana
Distribution: Fedora, Ubuntu, Slackware
Posts: 203

Rep: Reputation: 34
I don't know if you need the hard drives anymore, but if not when you get done erasing just drill holes through them.
 
Old 01-21-2010, 10:49 PM   #10
kirukan
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Eelam
Distribution: Redhat, Solaris, Suse
Posts: 1,278

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 148Reputation: 148
SunOS 5.8
#df -k ouput
Quote:
/dev/md/dsk/d10 /
/dev/md/dsk/d60 /in
/dev/md/dsk/d50 /indelivery
etc....
Quote:
#format
0. c1t0d0
1. c1t1d0
2. c1t2do
etc...
how can i identify which partition represent /in, /indelivary becasue its confusing me the two ouputs
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
clean data from partition sporty *BSD 5 07-04-2007 04:15 AM
How to recover data on a RAISERFS formatted harddisk compghod Linux - General 2 03-19-2005 07:43 AM
harddisk disassembly to get data eantoranz Linux - Hardware 8 10-10-2004 12:20 PM
Emergency - New Harddisk to transfer old data ganninu Linux - Newbie 10 07-23-2003 09:20 AM
CREATIVE Keeping confidential. herambshembekar General 3 04-04-2002 06:34 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:20 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration