Knoppix Drive Erase

Le_Petit_Lapin · 08-30-2004, 06:10 AM

Is there any way, from within Knoppix, to completely erase all data on a hard drive (in a similar manner to iolo's Drive Scrubber)

My hard drive is no longer working in any real manner, wont let anything be installed on it, and this seems the only solution.

Thanks

Baldrick65 · 08-30-2004, 07:41 AM

If you can get access to a Win computer, download Seagate Discwizard and create a bootable floppy set. From this, you can zero-fill the hard drive.

Baldrick

Le_Petit_Lapin · 08-30-2004, 07:55 AM

Oh no, I've got a copy of iolo Drive scrubber on disc at a friends house, but that involves a bit of driving to go get it. I was just wondering if Knoppix could do something similar, saving me the journey.

Baldrick65 · 08-30-2004, 08:08 AM

Not that I'm aware of .. sorry. Maybe one of the resident Knoppix experts can enlighten us further.

Baldrick

jomen · 08-30-2004, 08:23 AM

I'm quite sure that there is the program "wipe" on knoppix - which does the job perfectly

man wipe for usage-info

you could also use a dd command to write random data over and over to that disc

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/your_disk + some other options... - and do that several times...

jonthelam · 08-30-2004, 01:20 PM

Why don't you use the Ultimate Boot CD? It got me out of alot of jams recently.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com

Le_Petit_Lapin · 08-31-2004, 03:13 AM

Drive Scrubber refuses to boot up on my PC...
I'll try that ultimate Boot CD later on.

rm6990 · 08-31-2004, 05:00 AM

I personally think System Rescue CD is a much better boot disc. You can get the link from distrowatch. Anyways, I'd recommend trying it and seeing what is on it if Ultimate Boot CD Doesnt do the job.

m_yates · 08-31-2004, 07:07 AM

There is a free program here that is very small: http://dban.sourceforge.net/

But as someone already stated, you can use "dd" to overwrite the entire drive. Either:

Code:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

will fill the hard drive (hda) with zeros. Or:

Code:

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda

will fill with random numbers. One pass will make it virtually impossible to recover anything off the drive. If you repeat the command, it will make it more securely erased. 3 passes will truely elimate any possibility of recovering anything.