On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT),
"void.no.spam.com@gmail.com" <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com>
wrote:
>I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>drive?
Just send the drive in as-is. They could not allow anyone
to steal data off of drives as it would ruin their business,
but if you have something illegal on the drive you should
learn from your mistakes and accept loss of the drive.
120GB drive isn't exactly valuable today.
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT),
> "void.no.spam.com@gmail.com" <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>>error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>>manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>>an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>>then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>>be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>>wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>>drive?
> Just send the drive in as-is. They could not allow anyone
> to steal data off of drives as it would ruin their business,
I do not believe that. I have by now read of quite a few cases
where people got convicted because of things found on their
HDDs when they handed in their computer for repairs. I would
not be surprised if some HDD manufacturers actually where
running a specific content scanner on disks sent in for
repairs and perceive that as a public service. There also
have been several reports of repair shops harvesting contents
from customer's computers.
In message <6bguk8F3bl0f2U1@mid.individual.net> Arno Wagner
<me@privacy.net> wrote:
>In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT),
>> "void.no.spam.com@gmail.com" <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>
>>>I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>>>error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>>>manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>>>an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>>>then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>>>be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>>>wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>>>drive?
>
>> Just send the drive in as-is. They could not allow anyone
>> to steal data off of drives as it would ruin their business,
>
>I do not believe that. I have by now read of quite a few cases
>where people got convicted because of things found on their
>HDDs when they handed in their computer for repairs. I would
>not be surprised if some HDD manufacturers actually where
>running a specific content scanner on disks sent in for
>repairs and perceive that as a public service. There also
>have been several reports of repair shops harvesting contents
>from customer's computers.
You snipped the "unless you have something illegal" and then argued as
though kony was giving bad advice due to the potential for getting
caught doing something illegal.
Consider the value of the drive vs the value of the content on the drive
and proceed accordingly.
A new 160GB drive can be purchased for around $50 brand new, so if you
have something illegal or private, something you'd pay $50 to not have
revealed, replace and destroy the drive and move on.
On the other hand, if you have Windows, pictures of your family
gathering, with a few angry letters to the editor and you don't care,
then wipe what you can and warranty the drive -- Recovering the drive
would take a pretty decent amount of time, money and effort which simply
isn't worth it on an ongoing basis.
Personally, I'd just write off the drive, it would probably cost more
then $50 of shipping, packaging, and hassle (time) then to risk
violating an NDA.
On Jun 13, 1:04 pm, Grinder <grin...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:
> void.no.spam....@gmail.com wrote:
> > I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
> > error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
> > manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
> > an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
> > then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
> > be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
> > wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
> > drive?
>
> Probably not, but you can try dban.
I am running DBAN now, and after 4 hours, it has already completed 3
passes. After 4 hours, Copywipe had only completed 20% of the first
pass. And DBAN has an error counter that says 0. So that seems
strange.
I believe that DBAN will write all zeros for the last pass. After it
is done, is there any way for me to verify that it actually wiped the
drive, and that the drive has all zeros?
On Jun 13, 7:08 pm, "Calab" <mys...@csd.ca> wrote:
> "mm" <NOPSAMmm2...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
>
> news:0am554l7ibaosk2fg20eccbb5sihkckdqc@4ax.com...
>
> > On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT), "void.no.spam....@gmail.com"
> > <void.no.spam....@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
> >>error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
> >>manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
> >>an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
> >>then Copywipe freezes the system.
>
> > I get freezes over the years (and in my previous thread here) for
> > various reasons, and I've never understood all these freezes.
>
> All depends on the OP definition of "freezes".
>
> I've seen HDD errors cause a system to become unresponsive while the system
> tries to access a bad sector, and it can last for several minutes.
I waited over an hour and the progress meter didn't move, hitting ESC
didn't do anything, and the computer started beeping as if the
keyboard buffer was full.
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage void.no.spam.com@gmail.com <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Jun 13, 1:04 pm, Grinder <grin...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:
>> void.no.spam....@gmail.com wrote:
>> > I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>> > error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>> > manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>> > an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>> > then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>> > be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>> > wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>> > drive?
>>
>> Probably not, but you can try dban.
> I am running DBAN now, and after 4 hours, it has already completed 3
> passes. After 4 hours, Copywipe had only completed 20% of the first
> pass. And DBAN has an error counter that says 0. So that seems
> strange.
> I believe that DBAN will write all zeros for the last pass. After it
> is done, is there any way for me to verify that it actually wiped the
> drive, and that the drive has all zeros?
Under Linux do:
cat <device> | hex
THis will list all non-zero areas and compress the lsiting for
zero areas into one line ach.
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net> wrote:
> In message <6bguk8F3bl0f2U1@mid.individual.net> Arno Wagner
> <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>>In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage kony <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>>> On Fri, 13 Jun 2008 06:59:35 -0700 (PDT),
>>> "void.no.spam.com@gmail.com" <void.no.spam.com@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>>I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>>>>error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>>>>manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>>>>an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>>>>then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>>>>be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>>>>wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>>>>drive?
>>
>>> Just send the drive in as-is. They could not allow anyone
>>> to steal data off of drives as it would ruin their business,
>>
>>I do not believe that. I have by now read of quite a few cases
>>where people got convicted because of things found on their
>>HDDs when they handed in their computer for repairs. I would
>>not be surprised if some HDD manufacturers actually where
>>running a specific content scanner on disks sent in for
>>repairs and perceive that as a public service. There also
>>have been several reports of repair shops harvesting contents
>>from customer's computers.
> You snipped the "unless you have something illegal" and then argued as
> though kony was giving bad advice due to the potential for getting
> caught doing something illegal.
I actually think that the illegality is not relevant. There is a
good possibility that the contents of your drive will be looked at.
> Consider the value of the drive vs the value of the content on the drive
> and proceed accordingly.
> A new 160GB drive can be purchased for around $50 brand new, so if you
> have something illegal or private, something you'd pay $50 to not have
> revealed, replace and destroy the drive and move on.
INdeed.
> On the other hand, if you have Windows, pictures of your family
> gathering, with a few angry letters to the editor and you don't care,
> then wipe what you can and warranty the drive -- Recovering the drive
> would take a pretty decent amount of time, money and effort which simply
> isn't worth it on an ongoing basis.
> Personally, I'd just write off the drive, it would probably cost more
> then $50 of shipping, packaging, and hassle (time) then to risk
> violating an NDA.
I think I argued that way eralier in the thread already adn I agree
completely.
void.no.spam.com@gmail.com wrote:
> On Jun 13, 1:04 pm, Grinder <grin...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote:
>> void.no.spam....@gmail.com wrote:
>>> I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered an
>>> error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>>> manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe encounters
>>> an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and I enter Y, but
>>> then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like Copywipe will only
>>> be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can get past that error and
>>> wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping software that can handle a bad
>>> drive?
>> Probably not, but you can try dban.
>
> I am running DBAN now, and after 4 hours, it has already completed 3
> passes. After 4 hours, Copywipe had only completed 20% of the first
> pass. And DBAN has an error counter that says 0. So that seems
> strange.
>
> I believe that DBAN will write all zeros for the last pass. After it
> is done, is there any way for me to verify that it actually wiped the
> drive, and that the drive has all zeros?
If each sector contained nothing but zeros, then you'd have a slightly
easier time to verify the disk. For example, if the data was streamed
into a checksumming tool, then the end result should be a grand total
of zero. If some other programmatically created data pattern is used,
then you'd have to write a tool to verify that the pattern is reproduced.
If I was doing this verification project myself, and I couldn't find
a tool to automatically verify what was written, I might head to
Linux land. Writing programs to work on storage devices isn't that
hard - it really depends on how rusty you are, as to how long it would
take. And the program wouldn't necessarily have to be that long either.
As a friend at work would quip - "yup, that needs a three line program".
To give you a hint, at least in Windows land, there is a port of "dd".
Apparently "dd" can be instructed to copy to "standard out", so if
you piped the output into another Windows tool, like a checksum program,
you might just be able to compute a checksum over the entire data
stream. If the data on the sectors was supposed to be zero, then the
results should be zero.
On my Windows disk, I have a small collection of GNU tools, such as
"coreutils", and in there, I have a copy of "sum.exe". Perhaps "dd"
could be piped into a copy of "sum" from coreutils.
Since "dd" is part of Linux as well, you could also use the same concept
with a Linux LiveCD. (Knoppix and Ubuntu can be booted from their
respective CDs, and you can keep a few small files on a removable
storage device, while working with them. The LiveCDs don't have to
be installed to a hard drive, to do useful work.)
My suspicion is, that DBAN doesn't leave zeros on the disk for all of
its erasing options. At least some of them will have used the
Mersenne Twister, to make random data. (I tried to find a nice manual
for DBAN, but all I found was text files of one sort and another.)
Your first task, might be to find a sector editor and look at just
a couple sectors, to see what kind of a mess you're dealing with.
(I.e. Whether sectors are zeroed, or contain random data.)
"dd" can also be used to write zeros to a drive. In fact, that is
what I've used it for recently, as a means of erasing the "front part"
of a disk drive. Using "/dev/zero" as a source of data, you can
instruct dd to transfer "/dev/zero" to the hard drive, which will
overwrite the drive with zeros. If you then streamed the data to
standard output and piped it to a checksum or to a "word count" program
such as "wc", then you can compute the checksum of all the data,
and also verify the byte count available from the drive. So
there are "toy" programs, and bits and pieces of solutions around.
To use "dd" in Linux to write zeros, this is what you do.
1) Boot Knoppix CD into Linux desktop.
2) Open a terminal window. Type
That fills the first 10000 sectors with zeros. The command
syntax assumes /dev/sda is the disk to be hammered. Any time
I'm doing this kind of "surgery", only the disk to be hammered
is connected to the computer. Then, I can't possible make
a mistake with my selection of "/dev/sda" and hammer the
wrong drive. (That is one thing that worries me about using
the "dd" port in Windows - my boot drive would be a sitting
duck if I made a mistake typing in the command. Not so with
a Linux LiveCD, as the CD can't be erased.)
After your erasure pass is complete, then you could use dd
again, to read /dev/sda and pipe the output into checksum
or wc, to compute a checksum and to verify the total number
of bytes read, respectively. (A Linux/Unix guru can easily
improve on the above suggestions. I don't use this stuff
enough any more, to be good at it.)
Paul wrote:
> My suspicion is, that DBAN doesn't leave zeros on the disk for all of
> its erasing options. At least some of them will have used the
> Mersenne Twister, to make random data. (I tried to find a nice manual
> for DBAN, but all I found was text files of one sort and another.)
> Your first task, might be to find a sector editor and look at just
> a couple sectors, to see what kind of a mess you're dealing with.
> (I.e. Whether sectors are zeroed, or contain random data.)
Just a quick interjection: WinHex and Hex Workshop can edit physical (or
logical) drives directly. ie, they qualify as "sector editors."
void.no.spam.com@gmail.com wrote
> Grinder <grin...@no.spam.maam.com> wrote
>> void.no.spam....@gmail.com wrote:
>>> I have a 120 GB hard drive that my RAID controller encountered
>>> an error with, so I am trying to wipe it and return it to the
>>> manufacturer. But when I use Copywipe to wipe it, Copywipe
>>> encounters an error at 52%. It asks me if I want to continue, and
>>> I enter Y, but then Copywipe freezes the system. So it looks like
>>> Copywipe will only be able to wipe half the drive. Any way I can
>>> get past that error and wipe the rest of it? Any other wiping
>>> software that can handle a bad drive?
>> Probably not, but you can try dban.
> I am running DBAN now, and after 4 hours, it has already completed 3
> passes. After 4 hours, Copywipe had only completed 20% of the first
> pass. And DBAN has an error counter that says 0. So that seems strange.
> I believe that DBAN will write all zeros for the last pass.
> After it is done, is there any way for me to verify that it
> actually wiped the drive, and that the drive has all zeros?
Nope, particularly with the sectors that the drive has decided are too bad to use.
If they have something illegal in them, you can still get shafted because of that.
The only viable approach is to physically destroy the drive
if you do have something seriously illegal on that drive.
If you dont, the risk of someone getting some detail
like your credit card numbers etc off the drive is minimal.
Re: Any way to wipe this drive? 
Linear Mode
