I'll chime in with another vote for DBAN. The only thing I have to add is that DBAN (stable) supports most, but not all controllers. I have a second CD with DBAN beta that seems to support other (AHCI) controllers. Between the two of those CD's, I don't have any problem wiping drives. I actually have a really old server that just sits in the rack doing drive wipes (with DBAN) and drive testing (with SpinRite) of old drives (thanks to a couple hot-swap bays for SATA and IDE drives.) It takes so long to wipe and to test that I just make a habit of going in there once a day and swapping out the just wiped or tested drive with the next one in my stack. Chris
On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 8:35 AM, Jim Peterson <jim.sokytec...@gmail.com>wrote: > My kids (the 12-yr-old boy & 8-yr old girl) like to try and take turns > with the sledgehammer. Of course, I usually end up doing the deed, but like > Jack's idea, it is very satisfying and actually provides a great workout > too! I also sight in my deer rifle with them, and use them for target > practice when I'm shooting my .45. Fun! > > Jim > > > > On Thu, 2009-04-02 at 08:28 -0500, Jack Coats wrote: > > I agree with Sky. There used to be 'low level format' available on cheap > IDE controllers that worked pretty well. > > The best I remember seeing that kept the drive useable was an old > dos/windows program that did a 'distructive disk test' > that I used several times on different disks that were otherwise > un-recoverable anyway. I wish I could remember its name. > > You could build a small sh script to use dd to write some pattern till it > filled up a drive using different patterns on various passes, > but that is kind of a pain. If you are discarding a UNIX derivative, just > do a fresh install with a different type of file system. > > A good way to physically demolish one is to take it to your local > neighborhood blacksmith (I had one across the street when > I lived in Houston) and go with him to his forge. Melt the drive to a nice > pool of silicon and aluminum sludge. It is very satisfying. > It is really hard to recover data after that. > > Pouring the sludge into a nice paper weight, door stop, etc is also fun. > > ... Actually a good coal fired BBQ of old disk drives behind the HC one > weekend could be a nice community support project! :) ... Then cast them > into trophies for 'worst security' to be handed out to folks at the next > Phreaknic > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group. To post to this group, send email to nlug-talk@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nlug-talk+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
