Low level disk format or zero write tool
I want to make certain that all the data on an 8TB external hard drive is erased prior to it being returned to the seller.
Could anybody please recommend software that will do this. It needs to be free for commercial use (so that rules out HDD Guru) and it needs to be able to run from Windows 10.
Thank you
Could anybody please recommend software that will do this. It needs to be free for commercial use (so that rules out HDD Guru) and it needs to be able to run from Windows 10.
Thank you
Last Comment
Is this a 1 drive device or a box with 2HDDs in RAID? If you run wipe several times on the drive - DBAN as recommended above then the data is deleted for sure.
You boot directly into DBAN, so it isn't a Windows tool. Besides that it is only for personal use.
Just get the disk manufacturer's diagnostic tool. They include an option to completely erase their disks.
Just get the disk manufacturer's diagnostic tool. They include an option to completely erase their disks.
ASKER
Yes, I dismissed DBAN because it seemed that it needed to be put on a boot CD. I wasn't aware that it wasn't free for commercial use. I looked at the SeaTools but it seemed to me that the low level formatting wasn't available in their windows GUI.
Then I'm afraid you'll have to use the DOS version of the seagate tools which is also an image you boot from. You could go for the UBCD which includes the other manufacturer's tools too:
http://mirror.sysadminguide.net/ubcd/ubcd535.iso
I can't really see why it has to run under Windows.
http://mirror.sysadminguide.net/ubcd/ubcd535.iso
I can't really see why it has to run under Windows.
rindi stated: "Besides that it is only for personal use."
This doesn't make sense.
DBAN is released under the GPLv2 - https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/ - there is no restriction on commercial use. (That doesn't mean there aren't other reasons a business might have not to use it, but it is not for personal use only).
This doesn't make sense.
DBAN is released under the GPLv2 - https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/ - there is no restriction on commercial use. (That doesn't mean there aren't other reasons a business might have not to use it, but it is not for personal use only).
I originally was under that impression too, but if you check the download link kimputer provided, it says right there under the red download button: "DBAN is intended for
home use ONLY.". But next to DBAN they have another product, Blancco 5, which doesn't have that restriction. It looks as if DBAN is no longer OpenSource.
home use ONLY.". But next to DBAN they have another product, Blancco 5, which doesn't have that restriction. It looks as if DBAN is no longer OpenSource.
It's still open source and more importantly licensed under GPLv2.
That statement is merely an encouragement to purchase a commercial product that can provide more features that may be required, including regulatory compliance features.
The source is still available here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/
That statement is merely an encouragement to purchase a commercial product that can provide more features that may be required, including regulatory compliance features.
The source is still available here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/
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It needs to be run from Windows so that I can use it remotely.
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ok - tx for that info
depending on how secure the erase must be, you could :
-delete all partitions and format it + copy 8 Gb files on it a couple of times, then delete the partition again
or use the other suggestions
you can use the securiRAM sticks in the future http://www.kryptoprodukter.se/whitepapers/SecuriRAMdatablad.pdf
depending on how secure the erase must be, you could :
-delete all partitions and format it + copy 8 Gb files on it a couple of times, then delete the partition again
or use the other suggestions
you can use the securiRAM sticks in the future http://www.kryptoprodukter.se/whitepapers/SecuriRAMdatablad.pdf
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Thank you to everyone who helped. Lots of very helpful comments. Even the ones that did not directly help my situation were very educational. Thank you.
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While it states "No guarantee of data removal", you can be pretty sure it does what it does (especially using multple passes).
You can even verify it by doing a quick data recovery scan with other tools like TestDisk, it should reveal 0 files are available for recovery.