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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What are common tools on Linux to wipe an HDD pre RMA? (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by OwlPaste@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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A Qnap NAS has a drive with some bad sectors, I want to RMA it, but before just want to figure out how to prepare a drive? It's part of a raid 5 setup of 4 drives unencrypted. So I want to remove it and wipe it. Got a Linux machine I can use, but never done this before.

What are common Linux tools to do that sensibly?

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[–] socphoenix@midwest.social 6 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Assuming the drive writes normally a simple command like

dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sdX

Where sdX is the location of the drive should do the trick. Depending on drive time this may take a bit.

[–] user_naa@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Always use /dev/urandom for this purposes. /dev/random will be locked if it doesn't have enough entropy. It is good for getting some random kilobytes for cryptography but not 2 TB of random data for disk wipe.

[–] socphoenix@midwest.social 1 points 2 days ago

Thanks for the heads up!

[–] Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah my first thought was just keep running dd commands, and sooner or later you'll have the hdd wiped.

[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 days ago

Instructions unclear, accidentally deleted 200 EB of irrecoverable NASA data.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Just keep in mind that you can't wipe the bad sectors that have been remapped. That's unlikely to be an issue for a personal drive, but something to consider if it held particularly sensitive information.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 4 points 3 days ago

Sectors are what, 4kb? The odds of something sensitive being in those each of those 4kb is low (but never zero).

If the drive implements the ATA secure erase command properly, it should also clear all the remapped sectors too. But I don't know if I trust them to implement it properly. Maybe try it and inspect the disk with a hex editor.

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M

This command is much faster. Instead of random bits, it just marks everything zero (dude). Is good enough.