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

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Fri, 2009-05-29 at 23:37 +0100, Sharpe, Sam J wrote:
> 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.

You're forgetting the -v (verbose) option:

# hammer -v /dev/sda
bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang 
bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang 
bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang 
bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang 
bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang 
...

poc