OT: Can Reformatting A Hard Drive To ext3 Destroy All the Data On It?

[Sharpe, Sam J]

2009/5/29 Jussi Lehtola <jussilehtola at fedoraproject.org>:
> Quoting "Sharpe, Sam J" <sam.sharpe+lists.redhat at gmail.com>:
>>
>> 2009/5/29 Alan Cox <alan at lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>:
>>>>
>>>> 'shred' is part of coreutils (i.e. installed by default).
>>>> Doing something like
>>>>
>>>> shred /dev/sdX
>>>>
>>>> as root will write various bit patterns 25 times over the entire drive
>>>> (see the man page for more options).
>>>
>>> Whoopeeedoo. Thats still not the correct way to erase a disk.
>>>
>>> Use security erase, that is why it is there.
>>
>> I use a hammer, because it wins over all other solutions on both ease
>> of use and catharsis.
>
> For laptop (1.8" and 2.5") disks, sure. A couple of good bangs and you have
> yourself a maraca.
>
> I haven't so far been able to destroy 3.5" disks with a hammer, as the
> enclosure is quite durable. A sledgehammer would probably do the trick. Or,
> you can open up the hard drive and smash the magnetic disks.

I use some of the undocumented options to /usr/sbin/hammer that are
relevant to larger disks:

hammer --unscrewfirst|-u
       disassemble the drive using a tork wrench first before smashing
the platters
hammer --force|-f
       use more force with the hammer

NOTE: use of -u and -f together is discouraged unless wearing suitable
protective equipment.


-- 
Sam