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Hard drive wiping software?

JJB1
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8 minutes ago, JJB1 said:

Can anyone recommend a good hard drive wiping software tool?  Preferably free, but obviously secure/safe?

boot up any linux distro and check for "dd" via terminal, with a couple commands and some time to wait you will have your hard drive zeroed in a way that it's (almost) impossible to recover any data, there's for sure many videos on how to do it on youtube from a linux live usb

 

 

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/749972/is-the-dd-command-enough-to-delete-all-data-from-a-hard-disk 

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Boot from a Linux live-USB, then follow these steps: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2023/htgwa-how-completely-erase-hard-drive-linux/ (also see comments)

 

That's as free as it gets in either sense

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ShredOS is a bootable Linux environment that can secure erase any type of drive. It will generate reports as well, if you need those to prove data was destroyed.

 

https://github.com/PartialVolume/shredos.x86_64

 

It's basically the community replacement for Darik's Boot and Nuke, which was the go-to until it was bought by a commercial entity. Now it restricts modern features (like SSD support) to the commercially licensed version.

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48 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

It's basically the community replacement for Darik's Boot and Nuke, which was the go-to until it was bought by a commercial entity. Now it restricts modern features (like SSD support) to the commercially licensed version.

Haven't used DBAN in a long time since I've personally decided either a single overwrite of anything is good enough, or you need physical destruction of the drive. The in between part is mostly a waste of time. I find DBAN's current site amusing, since they use all the FUD to try to sell you the paid version. Warning! It will 100% wipe stuff irrecoverably. But if you really want to be sure, pay up! ShreadOS is interesting since it can include hidden areas. Possibly a bit niche and specific but might apply in edge cases.

 

I haven't sold a HD in a long time, but I use any tool on hand to overwrite it once, usually with logical zeros. In the past it used to be WD Diag until they replaced it with something horrible. HDDScan can read and write, and can be useful to get access times on sectors too.

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