Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2024 08:16:08 -0500 From: robert@rrbrussell.com To: "Michael Sierchio" <kudzu@tenebras.com>, "Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg@tristatelogic.com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to zero a failing disk drive before disposal? Message-ID: <d4280b7f-9a5d-4e39-b34e-9322ce980370@app.fastmail.com> In-Reply-To: <CAHu1Y70T0VNtq%2BMvQ1AoXqPSF4qhD_YYPqWiBFnm0vR8%2BDkULA@mail.gmail.com> References: <5117.1728561469@segfault.tristatelogic.com> <CAHu1Y70T0VNtq%2BMvQ1AoXqPSF4qhD_YYPqWiBFnm0vR8%2BDkULA@mail.gmail.com>
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On Thu, Oct 10, 2024, at 07:46, Michael Sierchio wrote: > On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 7:58=E2=80=AFAM Ronald F. Guilmette=20 > <rfg@tristatelogic.com> wrote: >> I have a pretty ancient 4TB spinning rust drive (WD4001FAEX) that is = unambiguously at >> death's door: >=20 >> Any suggestions? If worse comes to worse I guess I will end up writi= ng my own tiny >> little C program to just write 4KB blocks to a designated output file= while ignoring >> all output errors, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel if somebody= else already >> created something I can use in this context. > > There is no method of writing to a disk that can reliably delete or=20 > obscure all data =E2=80=93 modern disk drives silently remap sectors, = making=20 > them unavailable to the host for writes. If the data on the drive is=20 > particularly sensitive, physical destruction of the media is the best=20 > approach. The DOD method is crush, then burn. ;-) > > -M True M but you=E2=80=99re completely ignoring applicable threats. Unless= you=E2=80=99re likely a target of supply chain tampering, just use the = ATA Secure Erase feature built into the drives firmware and send the fai= ling drive out for proper recycling. Physical destruction of the drives is the only option if supply chain ta= mpering is a concern otherwise encrypt the disk, use the ATA Secure Eras= e, and reuse or recycle depending on estimated drive life left. The hdparm manual page discusses how to invoke the ATA Secure Erase feat= ure. It may require hot plugging the data cable for the drive.
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