On 2023-11-28 19:25, Paul wrote:
> On 11/28/2023 6:39 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>> On 2023-11-28 02:51, Paul wrote:
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> While this is tempting as a partial proof, it's also silly.
>>>
>>>     dd if=/dev/sda bs=221184 | sum       # Would return 0000 given a chance.
>>>                                          # If nonzero, there is a screwup.
>>>                                          # But this takes too long to be a useful idea.
>>
>> Why that particular size (bs)?  :-)
>>
>> I would think of using 10 megs or so.
>>
>
> OK, let me take the size of my daily driver.
>
> 4,000,787,030,016 <=== Even SSDs report CHS compatible sizes... Of course the
> "real storage" internally, is not a weird number like that.
> But you cannot write past that number.
>
> Divide by 221184. Divides evenly.
>
> Trying the disk in the other machine. 1TB HDD. $60 worth.
>
> 1,000,204,886,016
>
> Divides evenly by 221184.

:-D

It is 27*2¹³. 108 MiB.

27 was my lucky number for some time. 27 Mhz, ie, CB.

>
> How long can my lucky hold up I wonder ??? WDC 24300 year 2000 IDE drive
>
> 4,311,982,080
>
> I found an 80GB IDE. Let's try that.
>
> 80,026,361,856
>
> So far, the sizes all divide by 221184 evenly.
>
> How long can my luck hold out, I wonder ???
>
> [Bookies are now taking odds]
>
> And for the audience here, we're not talking about partition
> sizes. These are whole-disk sizes, the very limits of storage.
>
> I have a lot of disks. One that is not damaged, it probably
> won't run if I test it, but it doesn't even have an IDE
> interface, so that's a double-challenge to test with.

IBM PC times? I forget the name of the interface back then. Was it two
ribbon cables?

>
> I'm sure at some point, I'm going to find a physical drive
> that doesn't follow that observation.
>
> Paul
>
>

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2023-11-28 19:44, Paul wrote:
> On 11/28/2023 5:19 AM, wasbit wrote:
>> On 27/11/2023 15:45, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
>>> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
>>> before I return it to Dell?
>>>
>>> Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
>>> The drive has five partitions.
>>>
>>
>> Best way? Dunno, that's subjective.
>>
>> Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)
>>  - https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/
>>
>> Beware! It will wipe all drives it finds so disconnect or remove any that you don't need wiped.
>>
>
> And you know the funny stories from the forum.
>
> A couple of nitwits, after using DBAN:
>
> "I left my backup drive connected to the back of the computer.
> It seems to be erased too.
>
> Can you help me recover it?
> "

GAHHHH!

That hurts.

> They actually wrote into the forum, to ask Darik
> if he could un-erase a drive. Brownie points for
> trying it, I guess. Asking someone to undo it.
>
> The reason I didn't think this was a troll, was
> there are people who are that deranged :-) You can
> warn them and warn them... and that's what happens.
> It's not like the author of the program didn't
> warn people to be careful and not leave the wrong
> drives connected.
>
> One of the claims for DBAN, is it can "erase 99 drives at the same time".
> We know it erases backup drives pretty effectively.

What's the reasoning for erasing all connected drives? :-?

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 2023-11-28 19:05, VanguardLH wrote:
> "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 2023-11-28 02:43, VanguardLH wrote:
>>> T <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> And keep in mind, if the bad guys are well funded, they'd
>>>> just breaking your house and steal your whole computer.
>>>
>>> Nah, they'd just clone the drive and leave. You'd never know they were
>>> there until you received a court appearance order for all those
>>> instructions on how to build WMDs.
>>
>> "Just clone". This operation takes HOURS.
>>
>> And they have to reboot the machine to external media to use their
>> software, that leaves a trace.
>>
>> It is not like in the movies :-p
>
> Not if you have cloning hardware rather than running cloning software.
> A 1 TB hard disk takes 55 minutes to clone. The hardware isn't cheap,
> but then if it's the gov't they don't care about cost.

I simply don't believe it.

No matter what hardware you bring, a disk has a maximum physical speed
and you can not surpass it. On rotating rust, it is between 80 and 200
megs per second (MiB/s).

1 TiB / 100 MiB/s

1024⁴ / (100*1024²) = 10485.76 seconds = 2.9 hours.

And you have to open the computer to put the HD on the cloner, which the
owner will probably detect.

Oh, if the owner is using ATA encryption, even if you have the password,
that password will not work on a different firmware. On several machines
the password is salted with some other password from the firmware, and
it changes on each motherboard of the same model.

Good luck. :-)

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

On 11/28/2023 12:17 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2023-11-28 17:18, Paul wrote:
>> On 11/28/2023 6:59 AM, R.Wieser wrote:
>>> Carlos,
>>>
>>>> The ATA Secure Erase should clear it all
>>>
>>> Ah, yes.  That solves the problem, just let the drive itself (and not the
>>> OS) handle it.
>>>
>>>> but it is up to the manufacturer to have done a good firmware.
>>>
>>> Good for whom ? :-)
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Rudy Wieser
>>>
>>
>> the Enhanced Secure Erase command is the best one for that.
>> It should erase any "pools" you can't see.
>>
>> The Secure Erase is good enough for casual security, Enhanced Secure Erase
>> is for your police department :-)
>>
>> If you Secure Erase, examination in a Hex Editor should be clear
>> to the naked eye. Enhanced Secure Erase is for cases where you
>> think the drive may be manipulated in some way, to uncover
>> spares or something.
>>
>> Exactly why they have two commands, is the question we should
>> be asking. There really should have only been one command. It's
>> something Yoda would have commented upon.
>
>
> <https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/62253/what-is-the-difference-between-ata-secure-erase-and-security-erase-how-can-i-en>
>
> «As quoted from this page:»
>
> So I go to that page.
>
> <https://tinyapps.org/docs/wipe_drives_hdparm.html>
>
> «If your drive supports enhanced erase, you may want to substitute security-erase-enhanced for security-erase. The difference, according to the HDDerase.exe FAQ:
>
>     Secure erase overwrites all user data areas with binary zeroes. Enhanced secure erase writes predetermined data patterns (set by the manufacturer) to all user data areas, including sectors that are no longer in use due to reallocation. ***NOTE: the enhanced secure erase option is not supported by all ATA drives.»
>
>
> <https://web.archive.org/web/20110222015452/http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/HDDEraseReadMe.txt>
>
> «HDDerase.exe menu
> 1:  Secure Erase
> This uses the ATA internal drive secure erase command.  It offers a higher level of secure erase than block overwriting software utilities. It can take 30 to 180 minutes depending on the drive’s capacity and speed.  Drive will be left unlocked and ready for use once the process has successfully completed.
>
> 2:  Enhanced Secure Erase (if supported by the drive)
> An optional ATA internal drive secure erase command.  Drive will be left unlocked and ready for use once the process has successfully completed. Not all ATA drives support this erase method and if it does not, then you will not be given this option.»
>
> ...
>
> «Q:  What is the difference between secure erase and enhanced secure erase?
>
> A:  Secure erase overwrites all user data areas with binary zeroes. Enhanced secure erase writes predetermined data patterns (set by the manufacturer) to all user data areas, including sectors that are no longer in use due to reallocation. ***NOTE:  the enhanced secure erase option is not supported by all ATA drives.»
>
> ...
>
> «Q:  What are HPA and DCO areas?
>
> A:  HPA is an acronym for Host Protected Area.  A HPA is a portion of sectors at the end of the hard drive that can not be addressed by the user. Normally this area is used to store hard drive diagnostic or recovery type software, but any type of data may reside in this area. DCO is an acronym for Device Configuration Overlay.  Similar to a HPA, a DCO represents a portion at the end of the hard drive that is not user addressable.  Both these areas are NOT overwritten when a windows format, secure/enhanced erase, or any other overwrite method is performed. In order for these areas to be erased they have to be first removed, and only then can the entire drive be erased (see the following question).
> ***Note: In our testing some drives overwrite the HPA when a secure
> erase is performed, but most drives do not erase this area when a secure erase isperformed. CMRR contends that HPA erasure is not mandatory because user data is not stored there; however HDDerase offers erasure of both areas for maximum erase security.
>
>
> Q:  Can hdderase.exe erase the host protected area (HPA) or the device
> configuration overlay area (DCO)?
>
> A:  Yes.  A message will appear if a HPA and/or DCO exist(s) on the selected drive and prompt the user if he/she wants the areas to be erased.  Accepting removes the HPA and/or DCO via set max address (ext) and device configuration restore commands, respectively.  A subsequent secure erase will then erase the entire drive.  Declining leaves the HPA and/or DCO intact, and a subsequent secure erase may or may not erase over the HPA/DCO, depending on the manufacturer. CMRR Secure Erase protocol requires erasure only of all user-accesible records. If your drive is locked by a non-HDDerase password and if either option 3, 4, 5, or 6 is chosen, then the HPA and/or DCO will NOT be detected or reset.
> ***Note:  the device configuration restore command disables ANY settings
> previously made by a device configuration set command--thereby placing the drive in its factory default state.»
>
>
>
> I also found out that some software sets the security password when doing this:
>
> «The GNOME Disks app offers an ATA Secure Erase option in the Format Disk menu. But if it fails to complete, how to unlock the drive? The password does not appear to be documented; happily, Babiz tracked it down by finding udisksd[1206] Commencing ATA enhanced secure erase in /var/log/daemon.log (and system.log) then searching the UDisks source code for "user password", which uncovered it in udiskslinuxdriveata.c as "xxxx". Thus, hdparm --security-disable xxxx /dev/sdx will unlock the drive.»
>
>
>
>
> Wow. It is the first time I found this information, and it was hidden in some ancient software...

The guy who invented Secure Erase, uses a different password than that.
May have been five letters.

Paul

On 11/28/2023 12:28 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2023-11-28 18:18, Paul wrote:
>> On 11/28/2023 6:36 AM, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> The "agencies" might have purpose made microscopes :-p
>>>
>>
>> This is true.
>>
>> There was a time, in silicon development, when researchers
>> used to paint liquid crystals on top of a silicon die,
>> and the electrical signals on the top of the die (not the
>> ones inside it) would cause the liquid crystal to change state.
>> And I'm told you could determine nodal states by doing that.
>
> Wow.
>
> Wait. IIRC LCD had to be fed AC current. DC would degrade (electrolisis) the materials or something of the sort.

I was told this by someone from the fab.

This concept pre-dates the existence of the JTAG chain for test.

[ Unrelated example. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_on_silicon ]

Paul

On 11/28/2023 2:00 PM, Carlos E. R. wrote:

>
> What's the reasoning for erasing all connected drives?  :-?
>

It's a production capability for IT.

You can cable up unrelated hard drives, as many as you can,
then start a DBAN run. This allows "bulk erasure".

I think there might be some Areca cards with 24 ports on them.
And you could find a PC with enough of the slots, to use
a few of those. That will get you relatively close to 99.

There are also SATA mux boxes. You could start with a
single Areca, and hang five port boxes off each port,
for a total of 24*5 ports. And then maybe DBAN would complain
that this was too much.

Originally, DBAN was a pretty impressive usage of Linux. The
software might have been only around 10MB in size and yet it
seemed to have a ton of drivers in the image. I don't know
what they made it out of, for the current version.

Paul

On 11/27/2023 7:45 AM, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> before I return it to Dell?
>
> Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
> The drive has five partitions.
>
> Thanks!
>

In linux terminal, do:

1) determine the linux device name for the drive using: fdisk -l
Note: it will be something like: /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1

2) type the following line in terminal:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4096

where sdX is the device name obtained in step 1).

3) hit Enter key. Then wait (a long time) for the prompt to display again.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:33:24 -0800, T
<T@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>
>https://www.bleachbit.org/download/windows

I note that this has been translated to Canadian English. That should
be a great help to people like hubops.

In article <c3jqp86luezt.dlg@v.nguard.lh>, V@nguard.LH says...
>
> "jason_warren@ieee.org" <jason_warren@ieee.org> wrote:
>
> > What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> > before I return it to Dell?
> >
> > Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
> > The drive has five partitions.
>
> I'm confused. If you are returning a hard drive to Dell, doesn't that
> mean it is defective, and why you are returning it? If the drive is
> defective, likely you cannot completely wipe the drive.

The drive began showing bad sectors a few weeks ago - noted in
Windows System log. The number kept increasing.

Dell sent a new drive (under warranty) but I have to send
the old one back. There is some mildly sensitive info on it
that I want to get rid of.

>
> There are lots of wipe tools. Example: killdisk, which you can run from
> a bootable disc to eliminate an OS on the drive or any access to it from
> an OS to prevent locked files.
>
> https://www.killdisk.com/eraser.html
>
> If no part of the active OS is using the hard drive, you can use other
> wipe tools that run under that OS, like CCleaner's Drive Wiper or
> Heidi's Eraser.

I have an drive cradle that I can attach
to my other commputer, hence no need to saw
of the OS limb I'm sitting on :)

>
> https://www.ccleaner.com/
> https://eraser.heidi.ie/

I suspect I could run either of them on the other
machine with the old drive in the cradle, no?

....

>
> Some drives have a firmware-based wipe function (ATA Secure Erase or
> NVMe Secure Erase), but you need a tool that sends the command to the
> drive. Often the tool is proprietary and brand specific, but the
> operation is performed within the firmware on the drive.
I thought that was how low-level formatting (used to?) work. Shows
how far out of touch I am!

Thanks for you help.

In article <uk407v$5ui2$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@needed.invalid says...
>

....
>
> Governments with "Top Secret" class hard drives,
> do not take chances, and they use a mechanical
> shredder to ensure all the magnetic media is
> bent to some degree. An MFM is only good on
> perfectly flat media (media which is as flat as
> it was when it was written). The forces are measured
> on the Z-axis, at the nanometer level. You would
> think any curvature to a sample, would cause a problem.
> A typical X-Y scanning area for an MFM, is 100u x 100u
> (microns). There are something like 1200 MFMs, in places
> like university labs. The grad students, hardly ever
> seem to be sticking disk platters in their machines :-)

Years ago, colleagues and I visited Los Alamos Lab to
demo some experimental hardware we'd developed. We brought
along some tape carts. As we were about to leave, the
Lab folks put the carts on a conveyor belt that fed a
humungous electromagnet. I could see the carts literally
jumping around as they passed through. ...and we still
were not permitted to take what was left of them back
home with us...

In article <uk3h3f$8g1$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@needed.invalid says...
>
> On 11/27/2023 10:45 AM, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
> > What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> > before I return it to Dell?
> >
> > Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
> > The drive has five partitions.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
>
> Boot Windows installer DVD.
>
> Or, make the System Repair disc shown here, if you
> don't have an Installer DVD handy. This is a 300MB or
> so boot.wim which boots and gives access to Command Prompt.
>
> https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/039d02w2s9yfZVJntmbZVW9-51.fit_lim.size_1072x.png
>
> A Macrium Rescue CD also has its own command window and
> you could do it from there.
>
> In Troubleshooting, find Command Prompt. AFAIK it runs as Admin.
>
> diskpart
>
> list disk
> select disk 0 <=== Make absolutely sure you have the correct disk. NO UNDO.
>
> clean <=== this only removes partition table related stuff.
> Very fast. Not forensically clean. Not recommended.
>
> clean all <=== Will write 1TB of zeros to a 1TB drive, end-to-end.
> All partition tables destroyed. All partitions destroyed.
> Not recoverable, as it is all zeroes.
>
> exit <=== It might take an hour or two, before you can enter this.
>
> You would need a hex editor at this point, to prove it's clean.
>
> While this is tempting as a partial proof, it's also silly.
>
> dd if=/dev/sda bs=221184 | sum # Would return 0000 given a chance.
> # If nonzero, there is a screwup.
> # But this takes too long to be a useful idea.
> Paul

I'll put the old drive in an external caddy attached to my
laptop. Lots of choices follow.

Thanks!

In article <uk3u5t$5l8k$1@dont-email.me>, T@invalid.invalid says...
>

> There is a used computer store a few towns away. Customers
> that have purchased them, have found (and showed me) all
> kinds of sensitive documents on them. And everyone around
> has heard the stories, so no one trusts them.
>
Yup. The local Verizon store here is not a corporate one - it's
a franchise. A friend bought a "brand new" iPad from them, paid
full retail, and found it qA loaded with porn when she got it home..

In article <uk56b5$bp85$1@dont-email.me>, nospam@needed.invalid says...
>
> On 11/27/2023 2:13 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
> > "jason_warren@ieee.org" <jason_warren@ieee.org> wrote:
> >
> >> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> >> before I return it to Dell?
> >>
> >> Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
> >> The drive has five partitions.
> >
> > I'm confused. If you are returning a hard drive to Dell, doesn't that
> > mean it is defective, and why you are returning it? If the drive is
> > defective, likely you cannot completely wipe the drive.
>
> I think he is returning a new computer after a short usage
> period, because it isn't working out. The machine is still
> functional, and it's a matter of sanitizing before return.
>
> If I'm buying a new Dell, my sequence is like this:
>
> 1) Boot Macrium CD, do a Full Backup to external drive.
> This records the disk in the "As Received" state.
> Do this from the CD, so you do not disturb the OOBE state.
>
> 2) Use the computer...
>
> 3) Thoroughly erase drive as preparation for return.
> Then, restore the backup image from (1) as a convenience for Dell staff.
> The erasure step, ensures white space got covered.
> You can use DBAN for the erasure step if you want, or Secure Erase.
>
> But this all assumes you did (1).
>
> Paul

Actually, the machine is 2 years old and has seen a LOT of use.
Windows began logging bad sectors. It was just a few (4) at
first, but then began growing, I've seen that a million times
over the years. I suspect a microspeck of contamination is in
there, rattling around and causing more errors. The machine
was still under warranty (I always buy one addt'l year's worth)
so Dell sent me a new drive but required me to send back
the old one. I suspect it's headed for the trash, but I just
wanted to clean it off first. ...just in case.

On 11/29/2023 10:54 AM, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
> In article <c3jqp86luezt.dlg@v.nguard.lh>, V@nguard.LH says...
>>
>> "jason_warren@ieee.org" <jason_warren@ieee.org> wrote:
>>
>>> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
>>> before I return it to Dell?
>>>
>>> Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
>>> The drive has five partitions.
>>
>> I'm confused. If you are returning a hard drive to Dell, doesn't that
>> mean it is defective, and why you are returning it? If the drive is
>> defective, likely you cannot completely wipe the drive.
>
> The drive began showing bad sectors a few weeks ago - noted in
> Windows System log. The number kept increasing.
>
> Dell sent a new drive (under warranty) but I have to send
> the old one back. There is some mildly sensitive info on it
> that I want to get rid of.
>
>> There are lots of wipe tools. Example: killdisk, which you can run from
>> a bootable disc to eliminate an OS on the drive or any access to it from
>> an OS to prevent locked files.
>>
>> https://www.killdisk.com/eraser.html
>>
>> If no part of the active OS is using the hard drive, you can use other
>> wipe tools that run under that OS, like CCleaner's Drive Wiper or
>> Heidi's Eraser.
>
> I have an drive cradle that I can attach
> to my other commputer, hence no need to saw
> of the OS limb I'm sitting on :)
>
>>
>> https://www.ccleaner.com/
>> https://eraser.heidi.ie/
>
> I suspect I could run either of them on the other
> machine with the old drive in the cradle, no?
>
technician-machine ------ C: boot drive
\
Target-disk <=== You can erase this one thoroughly, when cabled up
You can use your choice of cabling methods. A USB
drive can be erased as easily as a SATA. But some
commands such as Secure Erase, likely need a direct
SATA connection. If you choose to do the erasure that way.

>> Some drives have a firmware-based wipe function (ATA Secure Erase or
>> NVMe Secure Erase), but you need a tool that sends the command to the
>> drive. Often the tool is proprietary and brand specific, but the
>> operation is performed within the firmware on the drive.
> I thought that was how low-level formatting (used to?) work. Shows
> how far out of touch I am!
>
> Thanks for you help.

The first drives didn't need servo. They used a stepper motor and a steel band,
to move the heads radially, in and out towards the hub. The stepper motor pitch,
defined where a "track" was to be located. Those drives were little better
than multi-platter floppy drives, using rigid platters.

The drives with voice coils, they started with a servo surface. The bottom
of one of the platters, had the servo pattern. Using the servo pattern for
absolute positioning, you could write entire tracks on the other platters,
and they would end up in the correct relative position. The writing of
entire tracks, is "Low Level Format". Low level format also benefits from
an Index mark, which the hardware can generate. When you LLF, you set the
Interleave value, so that even if the controller is slow as a pig, the
drive reads efficiently (interleave 3 for a pig, but we soon advanced past
that point, to always using interleave 1).

Modern drives use servo-per-platter, called servo wedges. The servo pattern
is interleaved with the data sectors. As the head flies over servo, it
can make a slight trajectory correction. Then it flies over some number
of data sectors. On modern drives, you *cannot* write the servo sections,
and only the data sector areas are writeable. Thus, because is is now
impossible to write whole tracks, it is no longer called a Low Level Format.
It is instead, some form of erasure or overwrite of the data portions.

Only the factory can write servo. There are two methods. Hard drives with "stickers
covering holes", one of those holes accepts the servo writer. On modern high
density drives, the tolerances are now too tight, for an external servo writer
to do a good job. As a result, the servo writer is implemented inside the
drive, and as the drive is sitting in the chamber in the factory, it can
be writing the servo pattern. "Something" provides a positional reference
while it does that, but this is not documented. Interferometry ? Some
other process ? Unknown.

They are working on HAMR and MAMR drives now, so there are yet more
energetic devices inside the housing. And since the one website that
provided tech info is now not updated, we have to dig through patents
to find out how this stuff works.

*******

This is one of the first Secure Erase softwares, written by the guy
who proposed the method. These original pages were removed.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/HDDEraseReadMe.txt

This has a link with a package in it. It includes a tiny ISO for a CD.

https://web.archive.org/web/20151230142025/http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/Secure-Erase.html

I prefer methods that offer feedback as to "how is it going in there".
So I would not be doing it that way on a sick drive. Even a "dd" command would
do the job. You can do "dd" from a Linux DVD, and not even need
the "C: boot drive" in the technician-machine to be cabled up.

Or, you can use DBAN. If you use DBAN CD, remember to disconnect the
"C: boot drive" in the technician-machine, before giving permission
for DBAN to erase "every drive in the computer". Only the sick drive
should be connected to the PC, when DBAN is running.

If you run this program as Administrator in Windows, you can
examine the erased disk at the physical level and verify the
pattern there has thoroughly erased the drive. This is when
a zeros pattern is the easiest to verify with the editor.

https://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/

As long as DBAN has a zeros option, that should make the exercise
almost pleasant.

Paul

On 11/28/23 18:16, micky wrote:
> In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:33:24 -0800, T
> <T@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
>>
>> https://www.bleachbit.org/download/windows
>
> I note that this has been translated to Canadian English. That should
> be a great help to people like hubops.

So "about" has been translated to "aboot"?

On Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:45:20 -0500, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:

> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> before I return it to Dell?

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3Xa1h_RqM>

--
s|b

s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:

> On Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:45:20 -0500, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
>
>> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
>> before I return it to Dell?
>
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3Xa1h_RqM>

Way too expensive. Just drill out the retaining screws, and use a
welding torch on the platters.

Of course, I'm sure Dell wants back the drive in the same condition as
reported by the user, not a bunch of shredded bits. If the OP doesn't
return the old drive, he might have to pay for the new one. If Dell
didn't do a parts exchange, but a simple parts replace, they probably
want back the old drive to perform failure analysis to help them
determine if they can improve their manufacturing process. Without the
drive to inspect, they have no feedback on why the drive failed.

On 2023-11-29 02:02, bilsch01 wrote:
> On 11/27/2023 7:45 AM, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
>> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
>> before I return it to Dell?
>>
>> Will a low-level format do it or is there something better>
>> The drive has five partitions.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>
> In linux terminal, do:
>
> 1) determine the linux device name for the drive using: fdisk -l
>    Note: it will be something like: /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1
>
> 2) type the following line in terminal:
>
> sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4096
>
> where sdX is the device name obtained in step 1).
>
> 3) hit Enter key. Then wait (a long time) for the prompt to display again.

If you set bs to several megabytes, it is faster.

--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.

VanguardLH wrote:

> s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:
>
>> jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
>>
>>> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
>>> before I return it to Dell?
>>
>> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3Xa1h_RqM>
>
> Way too expensive. Just drill out the retaining screws, and use a
> welding torch on the platters.
>
> Of course, I'm sure Dell wants back the drive in the same condition as
> reported by the user, not a bunch of shredded bits.

With many manufacturers you can pay extra when purchasing the machine in
order to not return any faulty storage when it is replaced under
warranty/support.

In article <1m6uhrampmahc$.dlg@v.nguard.lh>, V@nguard.LH says...
>
> s|b <me@privacy.invalid> wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:45:20 -0500, jason_warren@ieee.org wrote:
> >
> >> What's the best way to clean everything off a hard drive
> >> before I return it to Dell?
> >
> > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3Xa1h_RqM>
>
> Way too expensive. Just drill out the retaining screws, and use a
> welding torch on the platters.
>
> Of course, I'm sure Dell wants back the drive in the same condition as
> reported by the user, not a bunch of shredded bits. If the OP doesn't
> return the old drive, he might have to pay for the new one. If Dell
> didn't do a parts exchange, but a simple parts replace, they probably
> want back the old drive to perform failure analysis to help them
> determine if they can improve their manufacturing process. Without the
> drive to inspect, they have no feedback on why the drive failed.

Dell exchanged the drive and needed the old one back. ...and
not shredded I presume!