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  3. How to shred hard drive using GParted

How to shred hard drive using GParted

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  • S swampwiz

    I've done a repartition and format, but I understand that I should shred it as well. When I tried the command "shred", it said it didn't understand the command. :confused:

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    David Crow
    wrote on last edited by
    #14

    TMNT, you are not.

    "One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson

    "Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons

    "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles

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    • S swampwiz

      I've done a repartition and format, but I understand that I should shred it as well. When I tried the command "shred", it said it didn't understand the command. :confused:

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      BillWoodruff
      wrote on last edited by
      #15

      To activate "Shred," you must first play any Metallica track at such high volume the neighbors call the cops. The doppler shifting pitch of the sirens will start "Shred."

      «The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled» Plutarch

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      • S swampwiz

        I've done a repartition and format, but I understand that I should shred it as well. When I tried the command "shred", it said it didn't understand the command. :confused:

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        C Offline
        Clumpco
        wrote on last edited by
        #16

        The only shredder you will ever trust [^]

        So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

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        • C Clumpco

          The only shredder you will ever trust [^]

          So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

          B Offline
          B Offline
          BryanFazekas
          wrote on last edited by
          #17

          This one is prettier for the office environment: Whitaker Hard Drive Cross Cut Shredder[^]

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          • C Clumpco

            The only shredder you will ever trust [^]

            So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

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            G Offline
            Gary R Wheeler
            wrote on last edited by
            #18

            This is a candidate for a gimmick in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation[^]. Our intrepid investigators discover that vital data was on a hard drive that's been shredded, along with dozens of other drives. Fortunately the perp didn't empty the shredder output hopper. They recover the fragments, extract the platter bits (probably using a magnet :rolleyes: ), sort the bits into the correct platters and reassemble them. Then they find appropriate drive hardware in the CSI IT department's morgue (cue egregious pun in the dialogue), load up the drive, and discover an 8x16 pixel photo of said perpetrator. Click Enhance a few times, and you now have a high-resolution picture of the bad guy.

            Software Zen: delete this;

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            • G Gary R Wheeler

              This is a candidate for a gimmick in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation[^]. Our intrepid investigators discover that vital data was on a hard drive that's been shredded, along with dozens of other drives. Fortunately the perp didn't empty the shredder output hopper. They recover the fragments, extract the platter bits (probably using a magnet :rolleyes: ), sort the bits into the correct platters and reassemble them. Then they find appropriate drive hardware in the CSI IT department's morgue (cue egregious pun in the dialogue), load up the drive, and discover an 8x16 pixel photo of said perpetrator. Click Enhance a few times, and you now have a high-resolution picture of the bad guy.

              Software Zen: delete this;

              C Offline
              C Offline
              Clumpco
              wrote on last edited by
              #19

              FOL - Falling over laughing

              So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

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              • B BryanFazekas

                This one is prettier for the office environment: Whitaker Hard Drive Cross Cut Shredder[^]

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                C Offline
                Clumpco
                wrote on last edited by
                #20

                I saw that... thinking of getting one for our house waste disposal as it's such a bargain.

                So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

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                • K k5054

                  AFAIK, gparted does not have a shred option. There is a shred command available from the command line and you should be able to do

                  sudo shred -v /dev/sdX

                  . That will erase the whole drive. I've not tried it but I expect that shed -v /dev/sdXP would erase partition P. Check the docs on that. Note that this will erase the formatting, so you'll have to recreate the file system(s) for any partitions you shred. If you don't have shred installed, or can't install it for some reason, then you can use dd

                  dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

                  will overwrite the harddrive with all zeros. You might also use if=/dev/urandom, to write random-ish data over the drive before formatting.

                  Keep Calm and Carry On

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                  swampwiz
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #21

                  The system will be given to charity, so I don't care what condition the hard drive is in. :)

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                  • K k5054

                    AFAIK, gparted does not have a shred option. There is a shred command available from the command line and you should be able to do

                    sudo shred -v /dev/sdX

                    . That will erase the whole drive. I've not tried it but I expect that shed -v /dev/sdXP would erase partition P. Check the docs on that. Note that this will erase the formatting, so you'll have to recreate the file system(s) for any partitions you shred. If you don't have shred installed, or can't install it for some reason, then you can use dd

                    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=4M

                    will overwrite the harddrive with all zeros. You might also use if=/dev/urandom, to write random-ish data over the drive before formatting.

                    Keep Calm and Carry On

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                    S Offline
                    swampwiz
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #22

                    I did: if=/dev/urandom and the console window started printing random characters.

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                    • S swampwiz

                      I've done a repartition and format, but I understand that I should shred it as well. When I tried the command "shred", it said it didn't understand the command. :confused:

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                      Cp Coder
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #23

                      My preferred way to clean a disk: Connect the disk to computer. Open an elevated command prompt. Type Diskpart In Diskpart type list disk. Disks attached will be numbered 0, 1, 2, 3 to whatever. Make a CAREFUL note of the number of the disk to be cleaned. Do not choose the wrong disk! Type select disk n, where n is the number of the disk to be cleaned. Type clean all. Every sector on the disk will be set to zero, destroying all data on the disk and clearing all partitions. Afterwards, type convert mbr or convert gpt, depending whether you want an mbr or gpt disk. Now you can start creating partitions and formatting them. WARNING: Diskpart has no mercy. It has no "Are you sure?" prompts. Every command is immediately executed with no hesitation. Google Diskpart for a complete list of available commands.

                      Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!

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                      • C Clumpco

                        FOL - Falling over laughing

                        So old that I did my first coding in octal via switches on a DEC PDP 8

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                        Gary R Wheeler
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #24

                        Did I mention the original 8x16 photo was monochrome, and the enhanced final photo in vibrant color?

                        Software Zen: delete this;

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