On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:49:07 -0800, Grant wrote:

> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
> more). I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. How
> would you take it from there? I'm looking for something quick and
> easy. My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
> however that works.

Darik's Boot and Nuke (http://www.dban.org) will wipe it, Ubuntu can be
installed quickly from a USB stick.


--
Neil Bothwick

This message has been cruelly tested on sweet little furry animals.

On Wednesday 16 December 2009 18:49:07 Grant wrote:
> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
> more). I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. How
> would you take it from there? I'm looking for something quick and
> easy. My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
> however that works.

First I'd mount the partitions and then emerge/use shred:

# shred -v -n 25 -z -u /mnt/a_partition

Then I would delete old partitions, create new partitions and format them as
required. If you're really paranoid about your data (which from what you're
telling me you're not) you can also use dd to randomly overwrite partition
tables, but I would probably not bother.

Now, there may be more modern tools to do all this with a single button, but I
haven't looked into it in any detail.

HTH.
--
Regards,
Mick

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 6:49 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
> more). *I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. *How
> would you take it from there? *I'm looking for something quick and
> easy. *My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
> however that works.
>
> - Grant
>
>

Darik's Boot and Nuke is a good projects for wiping.

http://www.dban.org/

On 12/16/2009 10:49 AM, Grant wrote:
> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
> more). I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. How
> would you take it from there? I'm looking for something quick and
> easy. My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
> however that works.
>
> - Grant
>

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 1:49 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
> more). *I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. *How
> would you take it from there? *I'm looking for something quick and
> easy. *My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
> however that works.
>
> - Grant
>
>

Hiren's Bootcd contains a bunch of useful tools for the computer
professional, and a few that will help you in your disk wipery. It
also comes in a convenient USB image.

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5090985/Hirens_Boot_USB_10.0

On Wed, 2009-12-16 at 19:24 +0000, Mick wrote:
>
> First I'd mount the partitions and then emerge/use shred:
>
> # shred -v -n 25 -z -u /mnt/a_partition
>

I wouldn't even mount it. I'd shred the entire block device (may take a
while) then repartion/reinstall.

On 12/16/2009 2:24 PM, Mick wrote:

On Wednesday 16 December 2009 18:49:07 Grant wrote:


I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
more). I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. How
would you take it from there? I'm looking for something quick and
easy. My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
however that works.


First I'd mount the partitions and then emerge/use shred:

# shred -v -n 25 -z -u /mnt/a_partition

Then I would delete old partitions, create new partitions and format them as
required. If you're really paranoid about your data (which from what you're
telling me you're not) you can also use dd to randomly overwrite partition
tables, but I would probably not bother.

Now, there may be more modern tools to do all this with a single button, but I
haven't looked into it in any detail.

HTH.


What's wrong with "dd if=/dev/zero of/dev/sdxx"?

Marcus

Mick wrote:

On Wednesday 16 December 2009 18:49:07 Grant wrote:


I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
more). I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. How
would you take it from there? I'm looking for something quick and
easy. My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
however that works.



First I'd mount the partitions and then emerge/use shred:

# shred -v -n 25 -z -u /mnt/a_partition

Then I would delete old partitions, create new partitions and format them as
required. If you're really paranoid about your data (which from what you're
telling me you're not) you can also use dd to randomly overwrite partition
tables, but I would probably not bother.


Now, there may be more modern tools to do all this with a single button, but I
haven't looked into it in any detail.


HTH.



Also note that shred, at least the last I read, doesn't work to well on
some file systems. I know this used to be true for reiserfs and some
other journalized file systems.


I'm thinking the dd thing may be the best way here. I don't think it
cares about file systems when it does its thing.


Dale

:-) :-)

dd is pretty thorough... afterall, it writes to every single block on the disk.

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Mick wrote:
>>
>> On Wednesday 16 December 2009 18:49:07 Grant wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I'm about to sell my old laptop and I'd like to wipe out the data and
>>> install any flavor of Linux via USB (the CD drive doesn't work any
>>> more). *I've got a bootable USB key that will get me into Gentoo. *How
>>> would you take it from there? *I'm looking for something quick and
>>> easy. *My data isn't too sensitive, but I'd like to do some type of
>>> wiping so it isn't all just sitting there with a deleted flag or
>>> however that works.
>>>
>>
>> First I'd mount the partitions and then emerge/use shred:
>>
>> # shred -v -n 25 -z -u /mnt/a_partition
>>
>> Then I would delete old partitions, create new partitions and format them
>> as required. *If you're really paranoid about your data (which from what
>> you're telling me you're not) you can also use dd to randomly overwrite
>> partition tables, but I would probably not bother.
>>
>> Now, there may be more modern tools to do all this with a single button,
>> but I haven't looked into it in any detail.
>>
>> HTH.
>>
>
> Also note that shred, at least the last I read, doesn't work to well on some
> file systems. *I know this used to be true for reiserfs and some other
> journalized file systems.
>
> I'm thinking the dd thing may be the best way here. *I don't think it cares
> about file systems when it does its thing.
>
> Dale
>
> :-) *:-)
>

That is, of course, when shredding individual files, where the final
location and initial locations for them may not wind up being the same
place on disk. When 'shredding' a whole partition, though, the file
system itself ceases to matter, as it in itself is being overwritten
as well as all the data it provides a means of indexing for.

Incidentally, I believe the oft referenced here DBAN uses shred
internally, last I looked.

--
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy