Shred or wipe an old hard drive?

[KegHead]

Hi!

Bleach Bit has a wipe option.

Does anyone know how many passes it makes?

Any other info about Bleach Bit?

Thanks!

KegHead

[KegHead]

Hi!

So, if I use Bleach Bit 5 times in a week, does that mean it's like running wipe to do a five time wipe at one setting?

KegHead

[CharlesA]

Doubt it, but I don't use Bleachbit, so I cannot confirm or deny that for sure.

[KegHead]

Hi!

I reinstalled Ubuntu after using wipe. I was asked if I wanted to wipe the hd before installing.

I said yes, was this really a wipe?

KegHead

[Paqman]

Is it possible to wipe/shred just unused space via terminal?

sudo sfill -l -l -v -z /target

This will write a single pass of zeros to all the free space on that partition, which is fast and a completely permanent wipe. You'll need to install secure-delete to get the tool sfill.

[KegHead]

Hi!

Thanks Paqman.

What if I wanted to do more than one pass with zero's?

Thanks!

KegHead

[HermanAB]

These erase threads always amaze me. A secure erase facility has been built into all disk drive controllers for at least ten years, yet no-one seems to be aware of it. Use hdparm to activate it.

[unspawn]

Sure enough these erase threads amaze me as well but more for the fact that nobody ever tells 'em to actually verify the end result (regardless of DBAN being able to verify passes). Even w/o practical forensics experience it should be just a common sense thing. Else why make an effort in the first place?..

[KegHead]

Hi!

I'm just trying to figure out the correct terminal command using wipe three (3) times and an final wipe with zeros, only for free space.

Can anyone advise, I don't want to make a mistake!

Thanks!

KegHead

[sudodus]

You can use zerofree for ext file systems (and I think it is enough with one pass, unless you need military level security).

sudo apt-get install zerofree

See

man zerofree

for example

sudo umount /dev/sda1
sudo zerofree /dev/sda1

You can use dd for fat and ntfs file systems. Also in this case you should unmount them before the zeroising.

So now you have several tips:

shred, quick mode of wipe, dban (for while drive), dd (with if=/dev/urandom or if=/dev/zero), BleachBit, sfill, zerofree.

... but of course, no pay, no guarantee