alter boot floppy to auto erase hdd then shutdown

NewtonMan · 11-13-2003, 11:09 AM

i'm trying to make a linux boot floppy that will write zeros to the hdd, then init0.
i want the whole process automated so all i have to do is pop the floppy in the pc and boot up, the disks does all the work, then shutsdown. no personal interaction at all.

i do know you can write zeros by using the dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<device> bs=1024

my problem is i can't figure out how to alter the boot floppy, i've tried mounting the initrd.img from the boot disk, but i don't know the fs type?

any suggestions?

JaseP · 11-13-2003, 11:18 AM

I don't think you are going to get a lot of help here as there may be people who would be suspect as to why you would want to create such a disk. The danger of accidental HD errasing on a system that you don't have the right to do that to is too great. If your goal is to simply wipe HDs of systems that you are getting rid of, you can use a Knoppix distro on CD, go to console with root authority and wipe the thing from there. The danger of a bootable HD destroyer disk is too great in my opinion.

NewtonMan · 11-13-2003, 11:26 AM

i use them to wipeout old systems aqired in company upgrades, i just want to erase the hdd, i have a knoppix cd that does this someone made, but some of the older systems have no cd's and they do have floppy drives.

i just wipe the hdd so the next person to get the pc gets no info. nothing nasty, just trying to automate my clean up duties to allow wasted time somewhere else.

JaseP · 11-14-2003, 02:48 PM

Some older distros might support creating a boot floppy that you can write a simple program for. However, I would advise creating a password or something that needs to be typed in order to activate the disk wiping utility. Otherwise, accidentally booting with that disk in your drive could completely ruin someone's day.