From nobody Thu Oct 10 12:46:32 2024 X-Original-To: questions@mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mlmmj.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4XPTzg6H0Nz5Z0c2 for ; Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:47:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kudzu@tenebras.com) Received: from mail-pg1-x532.google.com (mail-pg1-x532.google.com [IPv6:2607:f8b0:4864:20::532]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (128/128 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256 client-signature RSA-PSS (2048 bits) client-digest SHA256) (Client CN "smtp.gmail.com", Issuer "WR4" (verified OK)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 4XPTzg5TTvz4PGw for ; Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:47:11 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kudzu@tenebras.com) Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; none Received: by mail-pg1-x532.google.com with SMTP id 41be03b00d2f7-7ea06275ef2so572216a12.0 for ; Thu, 10 Oct 2024 05:47:11 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=tenebras-com.20230601.gappssmtp.com; s=20230601; t=1728564430; x=1729169230; darn=freebsd.org; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=QT36baqx3/ZGKupN04dTSUNrTyyoXC8zMuwLUg7A7Mo=; b=QAPPIpYPnWMGnh5O20VlAVu7thxT7eTmkaDOQu89zEbwXHUvokT+IyS027E8Gu7IKW zA7i5+4i5Boqx0H9+jUnG2S6qWcekjIJJgRpHURlFJ1HgkhN+HSHgijdkYLTyxwsnCJS qMKReBsUKBpioGZpStTh4k0l/Ekb6LHeUihAgiamg3Xme/FgYGG6WqH4YsZYJGTL2wsk 5m34GfAV0wdtl+3eshS3rhS12YtEJuvFBc5mIGp4pNQK57f6VwD8gtARuoxnlmMjhT0l vuIa89mCAWQybeSV8cSzk58s5UfWSj6Xn8Bpdga6bz6QzlAMyV6X8Jl0SL0SKhdhNfhh TxTg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20230601; t=1728564430; x=1729169230; h=cc:to:subject:message-id:date:from:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to; bh=QT36baqx3/ZGKupN04dTSUNrTyyoXC8zMuwLUg7A7Mo=; b=cZXlSUKmVIK84Mpb44Ato7e1bzxn5CUJv2yH7NNXsSl6rbeyaDlbMMbxOggpjZT7dd v9cpRnNSsB6baA+lDbGDqSIP04FiDFCr5jyOXN+kIVyw8O/aXQM3KfuXNrDAGssvsnFC GM654WXLKqw9cUynQM/4uzt1UKngGn1u0+0x6fdTKJMszrWhDXevZIp6ySeyS83Dc0I9 VArN9K6isqjQ0FJZXMkeYMejt0Dprh0f9MeivQ3sK2wgZkv1RAtNqox/tshWIQgznbAW NYCuwnPxKm99f227T1W89eUVAHFWZfhi/xrGfIXlQM2MRG9ce2ZaATVKidop9KwcX4cG aGSQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AOJu0YxoAvDDg8BLQ1XltX/TXhnnKrvMVV/7jixbnheklF10SRhosoCA GXPxrPRjJtFLPmjfl8CKjBKFHFUADezII4+WOnfWH8uHhpeWmJB9k84BPEuP6NKfH8ljYogB3CK tTCnujLTrvPGCyeVC+ZcPeIUuz/mWBhsqQCKeH0L8W4KoIMry X-Google-Smtp-Source: AGHT+IFbXTqoqteRYtPo4WwL6FN2MENmxqEp4EWrbJsDaMaWh1bB/mRfg0eJ1hsoQQ2R3HoA+Cjy6OfYe5EkZyQnpII= X-Received: by 2002:a05:6a21:31c8:b0:1d8:ad90:8656 with SMTP id adf61e73a8af0-1d8ad90865cmr6278614637.23.1728564430464; Thu, 10 Oct 2024 05:47:10 -0700 (PDT) List-Id: User questions List-Archive: https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-questions List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <5117.1728561469@segfault.tristatelogic.com> In-Reply-To: <5117.1728561469@segfault.tristatelogic.com> From: Michael Sierchio Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2024 08:46:32 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: Re: How to zero a failing disk drive before disposal? To: "Ronald F. Guilmette" Cc: questions@freebsd.org Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="000000000000d98c0906241ec408" X-Rspamd-Pre-Result: action=no action; module=replies; Message is reply to one we originated X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-4.00 / 15.00]; REPLY(-4.00)[]; ASN(0.00)[asn:15169, ipnet:2607:f8b0::/32, country:US] X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 4XPTzg5TTvz4PGw X-Spamd-Bar: ---- --000000000000d98c0906241ec408 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 7:58=E2=80=AFAM Ronald F. Guilmette wrote: > I have a pretty ancient 4TB spinning rust drive (WD4001FAEX) that is > unambiguously at > death's door: > > Any suggestions? If worse comes to worse I guess I will end up writing m= y > 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 els= e > already > created something I can use in this context. There is no method of writing to a disk that can reliably delete or obscure all data =E2=80=93 modern disk drives silently remap sectors, making them unavailable to the host for writes. If the data on the drive is particularly sensitive, physical destruction of the media is the best approach. The DOD method is crush, then burn. ;-) =E2=80=93 M --000000000000d98c0906241ec408 Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On Thu, Oct 10, 2024 at 7:58=E2=80=AFAM R= onald F. Guilmette <rfg@tristat= elogic.com> wrote:
I have a pretty ancient 4TB spinning rust drive (WD4001FAEX) tha= t is unambiguously at
death's door:
=C2=A0
Any suggestions?=C2=A0 If worse comes to worse I guess I will end up writin= g 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 e= lse already
created something I can use in this context.

There is no method of writing to a disk that can reliably delete or obscu= re all data =E2=80=93 modern disk drives silently remap sectors, making the= m unavailable to the host for writes.=C2=A0 If the data on the drive is par= ticularly sensitive, physical destruction of the media is the best approach= .=C2=A0 The DOD method is crush, then burn. ;-)

=E2=80=93 M=C2=A0
--000000000000d98c0906241ec408--