-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Bevin Watson wrote: > delete the files from it. It seems the simplest thing is to just > reformat the whole device. However, I'm getting a little out of my > league thinking about partitions versus the whole device. fdisk etc. > seem to be partition-based. Should I just "dd" all over it? > nb: The USB stick shows up as /dev/scd1 (ISO 9660) and /dev/sdd1 (vfat)
I'd zero the device with dd. Find out the device using "sudo fdisk -l" to print out all partitions and physical devices. If it turns up as /dev/sdd, for example, use the following dd command to wipe it: sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd This will give no output until the dd operation is complete. It will simply write zeros (as in binary zeros, not the ASCII charcter "0") to the physical device, destroying all partitions in the process. (Again, I cannot stress how important it is to check and ensure you are wiping the right disk - do this to your system or data disks and you can kiss their contents goodbye). Once done, eject/remove the device, re-insert it, and type "sudo fdisk - -l" once again. The device should show up all on it's own with no valid partition information attached. - From here, partition and format it in whatever way you feel comfortable (fdisk, gparted, whatever). On a semi-related note, those who want to securely wipe hard disks can use a similar method with alternating passes of /dev/zero and /dev/urandom. I do this as standard when decomissioning desktops and laptops if they are to be donated, re-imaged, or eBay'ed somewhere. Servers and machines carrying highly sensitive data get a more severe dose of DoD 5220.22-M via "Darik's Boot and Nuke" (Google it for details). - -Dan -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFIURW+eFJDv0P9Qb8RArskAJ9W+jkCkrMO4RWLt3pNzlzJ+6rb+QCeIHK1 F6WDYyuC7BmjqLH+Kw7BgZ4= =0UZq -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- ubuntu-au mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
