[gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

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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.

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Mick]

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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

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

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.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Marcus Wanner]

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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Mick]

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On Wednesday 16 December 2009 23:24:51 Marcus Wanner wrote:
> 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"?

Nothing, I also mentioned dd.  Both are equally effective (or less so on 
journaled fs).  shred has the -n option for multiple overwrites.

-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

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

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Robert Bridge]

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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 17 December 2009 02:37:54 Robert Bridge wrote:
> dd is pretty thorough... afterall, it writes to every single block on the
>  disk.
> 

And the resulting effect from doing that once is:

Trivially easy to recover the data that was there just before you did the dd

Why? Data on-disk is not a binary cell like ram. It is a magnetic pattern and 
the pattern from the previous write is still there IIF you know how to find it

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Adam]

>> dd is pretty thorough... afterall, it writes to every single block on the
>>  disk.
>>
> 
> And the resulting effect from doing that once is:
> 
> Trivially easy to recover the data that was there just before you did the dd
> 
> Why? Data on-disk is not a binary cell like ram. It is a magnetic pattern and 
> the pattern from the previous write is still there IIF you know how to find it

Agreed, using all zeros will just change the magnitude of the field,
which will make it more difficult to read, but the underlying data will
largely remain. You should use random data so with dd you could use
if=/dev/random but that would be horribly slow so maybe if=/dev/urandom.
But why bother when there's a tool like shred. I boot a Knoppix cd then
use it on the raw device as i cant see any point in doing each partition
separately.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Alex Schuster]

Alan McKinnon writes:

> On Thursday 17 December 2009 02:37:54 Robert Bridge wrote:
> > dd is pretty thorough... afterall, it writes to every single block on
> > the disk.
> 
> And the resulting effect from doing that once is:
> 
> Trivially easy to recover the data that was there just before you did
>  the dd
> 
> Why? Data on-disk is not a binary cell like ram. It is a magnetic
>  pattern and the pattern from the previous write is still there IIF you
>  know how to find it

I disagree here. In theory it may be possible, but trivially? Seems no one 
ever did it yet.
From <http://www.h-online.com/newsticker/news/item/Secure-deletion-a-
single-overwrite-will-do-it-739699.html> :

  They concluded that, after a single overwrite of the data on a drive,
  whether it be an old 1-gigabyte disk or a current model (at the time
  of the study), the likelihood of still being able to reconstruct
  anything is practically zero. Well, OK, not quite: a single bit whose
  precise location is known can in fact be correctly reconstructed with
  56 per cent probability (in one of the quoted examples). To recover a
  byte, however, correct head positioning would have to be precisely
  repeated eight times, and the probability of that is only 0.97 per
  cent. Recovering anything beyond a single byte is even less likely.

	Wonko

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Nevynxxx]

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On 17/12/09 15:12, Alex Schuster wrote:
> Well, OK, not quite: a single bit whose
>   precise location is known can in fact be correctly reconstructed with
>   56 per cent probability (in one of the quoted examples)

So a thing with a 50:50 change of being in a given state, can be
identified, a little over half the time? That's a surprise ;)

Now to go read TFA




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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Robert Bridge]

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 8:13 AM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday 17 December 2009 02:37:54 Robert Bridge wrote:
>> dd is pretty thorough... afterall, it writes to every single block on the
>>  disk.
>>
>
> And the resulting effect from doing that once is:
>
> Trivially easy to recover the data that was there just before you did the dd

1) It's not trivial. Yes, a forensic lab can probably get enough to
convict, but that is NOT trivial... (And I have been talking to data
retrieval experts about similar stuff in the last week!)

2) The OP has admitted it's not that sensitive.

3) dd DOES write to every sector of the disk. It does what it does
pretty thoroughly.

The major weakness of dd (and any other OS based tool) is the
potential for drives doing sector remapping. The only absolutely
guaranteed way to eliminate this is a furnace.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Joshua Murphy]

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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

Joshua Murphy wrote:
> 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.
>
>   

That makes sense.  So, the OP shouldn't mount the drives but shred the 
disk itself?

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Joshua Murphy]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 9:49 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@gmail.com> wrote:
> Joshua Murphy wrote:
>> 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.
>>
>>
>
> That makes sense.  So, the OP shouldn't mount the drives but shred the disk
> itself?
>
> Dale
>
> :-)  :-)

I'm not at all sure *how* running shred on a mount point, as is
mentioned in one of the responses, would really work... as I can't
imagine it would have direct access to the underlying filesystem, and
as it's pointed at, as far as it ought to care, a folder... I don't
think it would do much of anything... but since my curiosity's
piqued...

chicane ~ # dd if=/dev/zero of=tmp.img bs=1M count=20
20+0 records in
20+0 records out
20971520 bytes (21 MB) copied, 0.102701 s, 204 MB/s
chicane ~ # mkfs.ext3 tmp.img
mke2fs 1.41.9 (22-Aug-2009)
tmp.img is not a block special device.
Proceed anyway? (y,n) y
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
5136 inodes, 20480 blocks
1024 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Maximum filesystem blocks=20971520
3 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
1712 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        8193

Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (1024 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 23 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first.  Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
chicane ~ # mount -o loop tmp.img test/
chicane ~ # echo hello > test/test.txt
chicane ~ # shred test/
shred: test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
chicane ~ # shred -v -n 25 -z -u ~/test/
shred: /root/test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
chicane ~ # umount test
chicane ~ # shred -v -n 25 -z -u tmp.img
shred: tmp.img: pass 1/26 (random)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 2/26 (924924)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 3/26 (6db6db)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 4/26 (222222)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 5/26 (555555)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 6/26 (aaaaaa)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 7/26 (777777)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 8/26 (db6db6)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 9/26 (dddddd)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 10/26 (111111)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 11/26 (492492)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 12/26 (249249)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 13/26 (random)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 14/26 (888888)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 15/26 (cccccc)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 16/26 (eeeeee)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 17/26 (333333)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 18/26 (444444)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 19/26 (bbbbbb)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 20/26 (999999)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 21/26 (000000)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 22/26 (b6db6d)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 23/26 (ffffff)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 24/26 (666666)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 25/26 (random)...
shred: tmp.img: pass 26/26 (000000)...
shred: tmp.img: removing
shred: tmp.img: renamed to 0000000
shred: 0000000: renamed to 000000
shred: 000000: renamed to 00000
shred: 00000: renamed to 0000
shred: 0000: renamed to 000
shred: 000: renamed to 00
shred: 00: renamed to 0
shred: tmp.img: removed

(note that for 'special files' like real block devices, it doesn't do
the rename/remove that it does for normal files)

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Mick]

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On Thursday 17 December 2009 05:13:32 Joshua Murphy wrote:
> chicane ~ # shred test/
> shred: test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
> chicane ~ # shred -v -n 25 -z -u ~/test/
> shred: /root/test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
> 

shred ... shreds files.  Therefore you may need to point it to the files in 
question for it to work.  I suspect that if you point it to a device alone it 
just shreds the file representing the device on the Linux fs in question.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

On Thu, 2009-12-17 at 11:42 +0000, Mick wrote:
> shred ... shreds files.  Therefore you may need to point it to the
> files in 
> question for it to work.  I suspect that if you point it to a device
> alone it 
> just shreds the file representing the device on the Linux fs in
> question. 

No.  This is horribly wrong.  Please don't tell people this.

The problem with just shredding files is thus:

      * I have a file with very sensitive data, it occupies blocks x-y
        on my hard drive.
      * I later delete that file, in the os it just get's unlinked().
        If there are no more links to that file then it's considered
        deleted, however the data is still there.
      * Out of sheer "luck" blocks x-y are never reallocated. The data
        remains on that block.
      * I go to shred every file on the filesystem. Blocks x-y never get
        shredded because they are not linked to a file.
      * I give my laptop to someone. They run a tool as simple as
        formost(1) on the drive. Bingo!  Sensitive data found.

Your comment about shredding devices... how long have you been using
*nix man?  When you cat /dev/sda what do you get?  When you "cat
> /dev/sda" what do you get (please, don't try that)?  When you run
shred on a block device representing your hard drive.. it's just a file.
Everything is a file (remember hearing that)?  Shredding a drive will
not shred the device node.  Device nodes are empty anyway:
        
        $ ls -sH /dev/sda
        0 /dev/sda

So if you shred a drive and it takes days instead of microseconds you
can rest assured that it's actually shredding the drive ;)

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Mick]

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On Thursday 17 December 2009 12:47:23 Albert Hopkins wrote:
> On Thu, 2009-12-17 at 11:42 +0000, Mick wrote:
> > shred ... shreds files.  Therefore you may need to point it to the
> > files in question for it to work.  

> No.  This is horribly wrong.  Please don't tell people this.

It's not entirely wrong.  Shred will wipe a file that you ask it to, or a 
device that you point it to.

> The problem with just shredding files is thus:
> 
>       * I have a file with very sensitive data, it occupies blocks x-y
>         on my hard drive.
>       * I later delete that file, in the os it just get's unlinked().
>         If there are no more links to that file then it's considered
>         deleted, however the data is still there.
>       * Out of sheer "luck" blocks x-y are never reallocated. The data
>         remains on that block.
>       * I go to shred every file on the filesystem. Blocks x-y never get
>         shredded because they are not linked to a file.
>       * I give my laptop to someone. They run a tool as simple as
>         formost(1) on the drive. Bingo!  Sensitive data found.

Of course!  Sorry for giving at least partially incorrect advice.  :-(

> Your comment about shredding devices... how long have you been using
> *nix man?  

Long enough to have forgotten most I've learned about it.  ha, ha!

shred -v -n 25 -z /dev/sda

will do the desired overwritting 25 times.  dd will do the same, reruns will 
have to be done manually or via a script.  DBAN seems to be the best tool 
available to do this job and it will from now be part of my arsenal of useful 
tools.  Some useful info here:

http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/os/misc/shred.html
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Marcus Wanner]

On 12/17/2009 6:42 AM, Mick wrote:
> On Thursday 17 December 2009 05:13:32 Joshua Murphy wrote:
>    
>> chicane ~ # shred test/
>> shred: test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
>> chicane ~ # shred -v -n 25 -z -u ~/test/
>> shred: /root/test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
>>
>>      
> shred ... shreds files.  Therefore you may need to point it to the files in
> question for it to work.  I suspect that if you point it to a device alone it
> just shreds the file representing the device on the Linux fs in question.
>    
That would be a bit inconvenient...I still vote for dd, overwriting the 
thing 26 times sounds like WAY overkill for a hdd...

Marcus

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:40:40 -0500, Marcus Wanner wrote:

> That would be a bit inconvenient...I still vote for dd, overwriting the 
> thing 26 times sounds like WAY overkill for a hdd...

Doesn't that depend on the contents of the disk? I don't see what's wrong
with booting a DBAN disk and letting it get on with the job overnight.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

That's not a bug, it's a Free Enhanced Feature!

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 17 December 2009 16:26:20 Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:40:40 -0500, Marcus Wanner wrote:
> > That would be a bit inconvenient...I still vote for dd, overwriting the
> > thing 26 times sounds like WAY overkill for a hdd...
> 
> Doesn't that depend on the contents of the disk? I don't see what's wrong
> with booting a DBAN disk and letting it get on with the job overnight.


Let's look at the obvious solution then:

remove the hard drive containing sensitive data, replace it with a new one, 
sell laptop.

Ka-Ching! Problem solved.

-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:49:31 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:

> Let's look at the obvious solution then:
> 
> remove the hard drive containing sensitive data, replace it with a new
> one, sell laptop.
> 
> Ka-Ching! Problem solved.

Unfortunately, the hard drive seller gets more Ka-Ching and the OP gets
less. It's always a trade off.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Committee (noun): A group of people spending hours taking minutes

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[BRM]

From: Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk>

> On Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:49:31 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:
> > Let's look at the obvious solution then:
> > remove the hard drive containing sensitive data, replace it with a new
> > one, sell laptop.
> > Ka-Ching! Problem solved.
> Unfortunately, the hard drive seller gets more Ka-Ching and the OP gets
> less. It's always a trade off.

Personally, I'd just go ahead and do the DBAN route as already mentioned.
It's worth it - and easy enough to do. (I've done it for one of my work laptops that I purchased from work a couple years ago.)

On the other hand, if you really don't want to do that - keep your hard drive,
and sell without the hard drive. The buyer can get another one for it themselves.

Ben

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Stroller]

On 17 Dec 2009, at 13:40, Marcus Wanner wrote:
> On 12/17/2009 6:42 AM, Mick wrote:
>> On Thursday 17 December 2009 05:13:32 Joshua Murphy wrote:
>>
>>> chicane ~ # shred test/
>>> shred: test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
>>> chicane ~ # shred -v -n 25 -z -u ~/test/
>>> shred: /root/test/: failed to open for writing: Is a directory
>>>
>> shred ... shreds files.  Therefore you may need to point it to the  
>> files in
>> question for it to work.  I suspect that if you point it to a  
>> device alone it
>> just shreds the file representing the device on the Linux fs in  
>> question.
>>
> That would be a bit inconvenient...I still vote for dd, overwriting  
> the thing 26 times sounds like WAY overkill for a hdd...

The US military specification is to overwrite randomly 3 times: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_erasure
I think the `shred` on the current System Rescue CD defaults to this.

The advice to overwrite 26-35 times is, I think, based on Peter  
Gutmann's 1996 advice, which is now quite dated and is widely  
considered no longer relevant. Fair play to Gutmann: there aren't many  
studies on secure data removal made publicly available, so it was the  
best knowledge we had at the time. It may be accurate to the kind of  
drives available then, but not to those available now.

Why not use dd? Grant says that his data "isn't too sensitive", so it  
doesn't really matter. But it's no more difficult to run shred than it  
is to run `dd` - it's about the same amount of typing. You might as  
well "do things properly" (also known as "following best practices"),  
even if you don't think you need to. 3 writes really doesn't take that  
long.

Stroller.
  

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Robert Bridge]

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
>
>

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

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

After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
since the data isn't too sensitive.

I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
dd.

 - Grant


>> 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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

Grant wrote:
>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>     
>
> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>
> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
> dd.
>
>  - Grant
>
>   

Wouldn't Knoppix work?  I'm pretty sure it has the dd command and I know 
you can install Gentoo from it.  Since there are some versions of 
Knoppis that would fit on a CD, I would see if one of those would fit on 
the 512Mb thingy.

Damn Small Linux may be a option too.  Not sure about installing from it 
tho.  I guess the network and stuff would work from it.

Just some thoughts.

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>>
>>
>> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
>> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>>
>> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
>> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
>> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
>> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
>> dd.
>>
>>  - Grant
>>
>>
>
> Wouldn't Knoppix work?  I'm pretty sure it has the dd command and I know you
> can install Gentoo from it.  Since there are some versions of Knoppis that
> would fit on a CD, I would see if one of those would fit on the 512Mb
> thingy.

I really don't want to go through the entire Gentoo installation just
to ship this thing off.  I'm looking for something along the lines of
click, click click....

So you think there could be a non-software (hardware? firmware?)
difference between the two USB keys that allows one to be booted from
and not the other?

- Grant


> Damn Small Linux may be a option too.  Not sure about installing from it
> tho.  I guess the network and stuff would work from it.
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> Dale

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

On Fri, 2009-12-18 at 12:20 -0600, Dale wrote:
> Wouldn't Knoppix work?  I'm pretty sure it has the dd command and I
> know 
> you can install Gentoo from it.  Since there are some versions of 
> Knoppis that would fit on a CD, I would see if one of those would fit
> on 
> the 512Mb thingy.
> 
> Damn Small Linux may be a option too.  Not sure about installing from
> it 
> tho.  I guess the network and stuff would work from it.
> 
> Just some thoughts.
> 
> Dale 

I recommend RipLinux.  It's easy to install on a stick and you don't
even need to reformat/remove what's already on it.  And it fits snug in
a 100MB directory.

It also makes for a great "rescue" partition on your HDD.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Joshua Murphy]

On Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 12:08 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>
> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>
> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
> dd.
>
>  - Grant

I've dealt with many systems that flatly refuse to boot from *some*
usb keys but not from others.. and some even vary based on what's
being booted into on those usb keys.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>
>> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
>> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>>
>> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
>> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
>> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
>> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
>> dd.
>>
>>  - Grant
>
> I've dealt with many systems that flatly refuse to boot from *some*
> usb keys but not from others.. and some even vary based on what's
> being booted into on those usb keys.

I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda

The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

Grant wrote:
>>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>>>         
>>> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
>>> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>>>
>>> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
>>> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
>>> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
>>> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
>>> dd.
>>>
>>>  - Grant
>>>       
>> I've dealt with many systems that flatly refuse to boot from *some*
>> usb keys but not from others.. and some even vary based on what's
>> being booted into on those usb keys.
>>     
>
> I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
> USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
>
> The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
> activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?
>
> - Grant
>
>   

Someone may correct me but I don't think it will blink since it is not 
mounted.

On the other hand, you sure you are erasing the hard drive and not the 
USB thingy?  I ask cause it sounds like something I would do.  I 
recently erased /home instead of the /backup/home.  lol  Small typo there.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

On Fri, 2009-12-18 at 15:05 -0800, Grant wrote:
> I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
> USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:
> 
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
> 
> The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
> activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?
> 
> 
I hate to say this, but are you wiping the wrong device?!

There should be pretty much 0 activity on the USD stick (/dev/zero is
kernel) and plenty of writes to the HDD.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Marcus Wanner]

On 12/18/2009 6:05 PM, Grant wrote:
>>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>>>          
>>> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
>>> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>>>
>>> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
>>> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
>>> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
>>> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
>>> dd.
>>>
>>>   - Grant
>>>        
>> I've dealt with many systems that flatly refuse to boot from *some*
>> usb keys but not from others.. and some even vary based on what's
>> being booted into on those usb keys.
>>      
> I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
> USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:
>
> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
>
> The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
> activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?
>    
The hdd IS being wiped, if you have the right device (which you do, 
don't worry!). However, I would recommend running with if=/dev/urandom 
as that will overwrite it with random bits instead of just zero. 
However, since it's already being done with zeros and a hard drive would 
usually be sold with all bits set to zero, I think what you are doing 
will be fine.

Marcus

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda (or what ever)
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
>>>> since the data isn't too sensitive.
>>>>
>>>> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
>>>> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
>>>> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
>>>> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
>>>> dd.
>>>>
>>>>  - Grant
>>>>
>>>
>>> I've dealt with many systems that flatly refuse to boot from *some*
>>> usb keys but not from others.. and some even vary based on what's
>>> being booted into on those usb keys.
>>>
>>
>> I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
>> USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:
>>
>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
>>
>> The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
>> activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?
>>
>
> The hdd IS being wiped, if you have the right device (which you do, don't
> worry!). However, I would recommend running with if=/dev/urandom as that
> will overwrite it with random bits instead of just zero. However, since it's
> already being done with zeros and a hard drive would usually be sold with
> all bits set to zero, I think what you are doing will be fine.
>
> Marcus

I checked on it after a few hours and it said "No space left on
device" and the process had exited.  I rebooted the system without the
key inserted and unfortunately it came back up to the normal HD so
nothing has been wiped.  Any idea what I did wrong?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

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On Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:58:06 -0800, Grant wrote:

> I checked on it after a few hours and it said "No space left on
> device" and the process had exited.  I rebooted the system without the
> key inserted and unfortunately it came back up to the normal HD so
> nothing has been wiped.  Any idea what I did wrong?

Does the USB stick still boot? It looks like you wiped the wrong device.

Incidentally, if you want to use dd, adding bs=4096 speeds it up quite
significantly.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional!!

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[gentoo-user] Re: dd - bytes at a time

[Stroller]

On 19 Dec 2009, at 10:59, Neil Bothwick wrote:
> ...
> Incidentally, if you want to use dd, adding bs=4096 speeds it up quite
> significantly.

Thank you. I have always wondered what the optimal bs might be.
And why - could you possibly explain that, please?

Is bs=4096 best for all disk-based operations?

Cheers,

Stroller.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: dd - bytes at a time

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 726 bytes --]

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:11:27 +0000, Stroller wrote:

> > Incidentally, if you want to use dd, adding bs=4096 speeds it up quite
> > significantly.  
> 
> Thank you. I have always wondered what the optimal bs might be.
> And why - could you possibly explain that, please?
> 
> Is bs=4096 best for all disk-based operations?

Many filesystems are set up with 4K blocks, so matching this with dd is
more efficient. The default is 512 byte blocks and anything larger
than this is good, I sometimes use 40960 but that isn't significantly
faster. I prefer to avoid using dd on hard disks altogether, it's just
so damn slow for large amounts of data.


-- 
Neil Bothwick

You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Re: dd - bytes at a time

[Joshua Murphy]

On Sat, Dec 19, 2009 at 10:15 AM, Neil Bothwick <neil@digimed.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat, 19 Dec 2009 12:11:27 +0000, Stroller wrote:
>
>> > Incidentally, if you want to use dd, adding bs=4096 speeds it up quite
>> > significantly.
>>
>> Thank you. I have always wondered what the optimal bs might be.
>> And why - could you possibly explain that, please?
>>
>> Is bs=4096 best for all disk-based operations?
>
> Many filesystems are set up with 4K blocks, so matching this with dd is
> more efficient. The default is 512 byte blocks and anything larger
> than this is good, I sometimes use 40960 but that isn't significantly
> faster. I prefer to avoid using dd on hard disks altogether, it's just
> so damn slow for large amounts of data.
>
>
> --
> Neil Bothwick
>
> You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.
>

My *completely uneducated* guess would be that, for a raw disk level
copy (on a normal spinning disk) or write a bs that is *at the least*
divisible into the drive's cache size, and at best *is* the drive's
cache size, would be best. For SSDs, if you have some strange reason
to need to use dd with one (I'd avoid it simply because a: you'll
never guarantee an overwrite of what's really there now and b: you'll
be put at least a small dent in the lifespan of the drive) the minimum
erase block size would be best, since that'd allow both a full erase
and a full write of a block, rather than risking 2 erases to get all
of one block written.

I do reiterate that this is all mere conjecture, and is based in my
likely flawed conceptual understanding of the drives.

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> I checked on it after a few hours and it said "No space left on
>> device" and the process had exited.  I rebooted the system without the
>> key inserted and unfortunately it came back up to the normal HD so
>> nothing has been wiped.  Any idea what I did wrong?
>
> Does the USB stick still boot? It looks like you wiped the wrong device.

Bingo, right as usual!  Apparently I wiped the USB stick.  I ran fdisk
and mk2fs -j again (do I want journaling?) and reinstalled Damn Small
Linux on the stick.  For some reason the laptop tell me "missing
operating system" when I try to boot from the stick now.  I need to
test it on other systems.

> Incidentally, if you want to use dd, adding bs=4096 speeds it up quite
> significantly.

Thanks, will do:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

On Sat, 2009-12-19 at 08:50 -0800, Grant wrote:
> > Does the USB stick still boot? It looks like you wiped the wrong
> device.
> 
> Bingo, right as usual!  Apparently I wiped the USB stick.  I ran fdisk
> and mk2fs -j again (do I want journaling?) and reinstalled Damn Small
> Linux on the stick.  For some reason the laptop tell me "missing
> operating system" when I try to boot from the stick now.  I need to
> test it on other systems. 

Grant,

Take a deep breath and hhink about what you're doing for a second.  Did
you just copy files to the stick and expect that it would boot?  It'
still needs a bootloader (LILO, GRUB, SYSLINUX, or whatever) in order to
load the OS on the stick.  Your dd wiped out *everything*

When you finally do get the stick to boot, run fdisk -l or blkid or
whatever and make sure your target disk is actually what you think it
is.

Anyway might save you some time in the long run... maybe not.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> > Does the USB stick still boot? It looks like you wiped the wrong
>> device.
>>
>> Bingo, right as usual!  Apparently I wiped the USB stick.  I ran fdisk
>> and mk2fs -j again (do I want journaling?) and reinstalled Damn Small
>> Linux on the stick.  For some reason the laptop tell me "missing
>> operating system" when I try to boot from the stick now.  I need to
>> test it on other systems.
>
> Grant,
>
> Take a deep breath and hhink about what you're doing for a second.  Did
> you just copy files to the stick and expect that it would boot?  It'
> still needs a bootloader (LILO, GRUB, SYSLINUX, or whatever) in order to
> load the OS on the stick.  Your dd wiped out *everything*

I think unetbootin installs a bootloader.  It worked when I did the
above yesterday.

- Grant


> When you finally do get the stick to boot, run fdisk -l or blkid or
> whatever and make sure your target disk is actually what you think it
> is.
>
> Anyway might save you some time in the long run... maybe not.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> > Does the USB stick still boot? It looks like you wiped the wrong
>> device.
>>
>> Bingo, right as usual!  Apparently I wiped the USB stick.  I ran fdisk
>> and mk2fs -j again (do I want journaling?) and reinstalled Damn Small
>> Linux on the stick.  For some reason the laptop tell me "missing
>> operating system" when I try to boot from the stick now.  I need to
>> test it on other systems.
>
> Grant,
>
> Take a deep breath and hhink about what you're doing for a second.  Did
> you just copy files to the stick and expect that it would boot?  It'
> still needs a bootloader (LILO, GRUB, SYSLINUX, or whatever) in order to
> load the OS on the stick.  Your dd wiped out *everything*

unetbootin does go through a step called "Installing Bootloader".  I
also tried installing "Super Grub Disk" and "Smart Boot Manager" via
unetbootin, both of which are specifically described as bootloaders.
Still nothing.  Could that dd have wiped out something else on the USB
stick that is important for boot?

Is there a quick way to install a bootloader manually, so I can see if
that works?  I tried to adapt this but couldn't come up with a
procedure I though would be correct:

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=10#doc_chap2

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Willie Wong]

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 01:56:39PM -0800, Penguin Lover Grant squawked:
> Is there a quick way to install a bootloader manually, so I can see if
> that works?  I tried to adapt this but couldn't come up with a
> procedure I though would be correct:

Don't know about the distro you were trying to install, but when I
need a bootable USB disk with utils, I usually go with System Rescue
CD

http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_How_to_install_SystemRescueCd_on_an_USB-stick

Maybe you forgot to mark the filesystem bootable?

Cheers, 

W
-- 
The particle physicists use order parameter fields, too. Their order parameter 
fields also hide lots of details about what their quarks and gluons are 
composed of. The main difference is that they don't know of what their fields 
are composed. It ought to be reassuring to them that we don't always find our 
greater knowledge very helpful.
   ~James P. Sethna "Order Parameters, Broken Symmetry, and Topology"
Sortir en Pantoufles: up 1108 days, 22:19

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> Is there a quick way to install a bootloader manually, so I can see if
>> that works?  I tried to adapt this but couldn't come up with a
>> procedure I though would be correct:
>
> Don't know about the distro you were trying to install, but when I
> need a bootable USB disk with utils, I usually go with System Rescue
> CD
>
> http://www.sysresccd.org/Sysresccd-manual-en_How_to_install_SystemRescueCd_on_an_USB-stick

Great success!  Thank you for that link.  Here's what I needed to do:

'cfdisk /dev/sdb' and select type LBA FAT32
'mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n DSLinux /dev/sdb1'
'dd if=/usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb'
'sync'

Maybe that dd would have been sufficient, I'm not sure.  I was using
ext3 before.

New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
/dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
I'll try another distro on the USB stick.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Willie Wong]

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 09:01:38AM -0800, Penguin Lover Grant squawked:
> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.

If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
hardware. 

Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
supporting a wider array of hardware. 

Cheers, 

W
-- 
The problem is that the LHC has caused the production of strange moron
particles, which seem to bump into normal people and turn them into
more strange morons. The collective outgassing of stupidity causes a
supernova brain implosion.      ~David Gerard (12369) /. cid:25200015
Sortir en Pantoufles: up 1109 days, 17:17

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

Willie Wong wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 09:01:38AM -0800, Penguin Lover Grant squawked:
>   
>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>>     
>
> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
> hardware. 
>
> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
> supporting a wider array of hardware. 
>
> Cheers, 
>
> W
>   

I'm not sure if he is wanting to just use this to wipe the drive and 
then be done with it or what but couldn't he just put the Gentoo CD 
image on the stick and boot that up?  Would that work?  It has the dd 
command I think and would most likely recognize his hardware as well.

Just thinking.  I been into a lot lately and only vaguely recall the 
purpose of this.

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>>>
>>
>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>> hardware.
>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
>> supporting a wider array of hardware.
>> Cheers,
>> W
>>
>
> I'm not sure if he is wanting to just use this to wipe the drive and then be
> done with it or what but couldn't he just put the Gentoo CD image on the
> stick and boot that up?  Would that work?  It has the dd command I think and
> would most likely recognize his hardware as well.

The problem with that is there doesn't seem to be a Gentoo ISO which
will fit on a 512MB USB key.  I tried to make it work once and failed.
 The other thing is going through the entire Gentoo installation just
to sell the laptop.  I'm not sure if the graphical installer is
working these days.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dale]

Grant wrote:
>>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>>>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>>> hardware.
>>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
>>> supporting a wider array of hardware.
>>> Cheers,
>>> W
>>>
>>>       
>> I'm not sure if he is wanting to just use this to wipe the drive and then be
>> done with it or what but couldn't he just put the Gentoo CD image on the
>> stick and boot that up?  Would that work?  It has the dd command I think and
>> would most likely recognize his hardware as well.
>>     
>
> The problem with that is there doesn't seem to be a Gentoo ISO which
> will fit on a 512MB USB key.  I tried to make it work once and failed.
>  The other thing is going through the entire Gentoo installation just
> to sell the laptop.  I'm not sure if the graphical installer is
> working these days.
>
> - Grant
>   

Oh, I was thinking about the 8Gb or whatever size it was.  Isn't there a 
old CD that didn't have a full blown setup that was sort of small?  I 
found this:

ftp://mirror.datapipe.net/gentoo/releases/x86/2008.0/installcd

It's a small one but a bit outdated.  Of course, you don't want to 
install from that I guess so it may not help any.

Dale

:-)  :-)

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Willie Wong]

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 12:06:53PM -0800, Penguin Lover Grant squawked:
> The problem with that is there doesn't seem to be a Gentoo ISO which
> will fit on a 512MB USB key.  I tried to make it work once and failed.
>  The other thing is going through the entire Gentoo installation just
> to sell the laptop.  I'm not sure if the graphical installer is
> working these days.

Both of the options I mentioned are smaller than that. SysResCD is 239
MiB. 

W
-- 
Did you hear about the restaurant NASA is starting on the Moon? 
Great food, no atmosphere!
Sortir en Pantoufles: up 1110 days, 22:01

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> The problem with that is there doesn't seem to be a Gentoo ISO which
>> will fit on a 512MB USB key.  I tried to make it work once and failed.
>>  The other thing is going through the entire Gentoo installation just
>> to sell the laptop.  I'm not sure if the graphical installer is
>> working these days.
>
> Both of the options I mentioned are smaller than that. SysResCD is 239
> MiB.

But do they have HD installation routines?  I needed to boot, wipe, and install.

- Grant

[gentoo-user] coreutils compilation fail.

[Li]

Hi all:

I am trying emerge -e world, when the portage emerge coreutils, I got this massage:

>>> Failed to emerge sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1, Log file:

>>>  '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/build.log'

* Messages for package sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1:

* Failed Patch: 001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch !
*  (
*  /var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/work/patch/001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch
*  )
* 
* Include in your bugreport the contents of:
* 
*   /var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch.out
* 
* ERROR: sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1 failed.
* Call stack:
*               ebuild.sh, line   49:  Called src_unpack
*             environment, line 2657:  Called epatch
*             environment, line 1248:  Called die
* The specific snippet of code:
*               die "Failed Patch: ${patchname}!";
*  The die message:
*   Failed Patch:
*   001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch!
* 
* If you need support, post the topmost build error,
* and the call stack if relevant.
* A complete build log is located at
* '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/build.log'.
* The ebuild environment file is located at
* '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/environment'.

system information:

> uname -a
Linux PC-686 2.6.31-gentoo-r6 #16 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 6 23:55:37 CST
2010 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ AuthenticAMD
GNU/Linux

			fender01074701

Re: [gentoo-user] coreutils compilation fail.

[Arttu V.]

On 1/10/10, Li <fender0107401@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all:
>
> I am trying emerge -e world, when the portage emerge coreutils, I got this
> massage:
>
>>>> Failed to emerge sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1, Log file:
>
>>>>  '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/build.log'
>
> * Messages for package sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1:
>
> * Failed Patch: 001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch !
> *  (
> *
> /var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/work/patch/001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch
> *  )
> *
> * Include in your bugreport the contents of:
> *
> *
> /var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch.out
> *
> * ERROR: sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1 failed.
> * Call stack:
> *               ebuild.sh, line   49:  Called src_unpack
> *             environment, line 2657:  Called epatch
> *             environment, line 1248:  Called die
> * The specific snippet of code:
> *               die "Failed Patch: ${patchname}!";
> *  The die message:
> *   Failed Patch:
> *   001_all_coreutils-gen-progress-bar.patch!
> *
> * If you need support, post the topmost build error,
> * and the call stack if relevant.
> * A complete build log is located at
> * '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/build.log'.
> * The ebuild environment file is located at
> * '/var/tmp/portage/sys-apps/coreutils-7.5-r1/temp/environment'.
>
> system information:
>
>> uname -a
> Linux PC-686 2.6.31-gentoo-r6 #16 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 6 23:55:37 CST
> 2010 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+ AuthenticAMD
> GNU/Linux

Re-sync portage tree and try again.

eutils.eclass (where epatch is defined) has been changed several times
in the last 24 hours. The last change seems to fix something which
might be the direct cause of your problem (an EPATCH_EXCLUDES handling
bugfix, as according to the ebuild that 001_all_* patch is supposed to
be excluded?).

-- 
Arttu V.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.

DSLinux couldn't find my HD because it needs the "sata" boot parameter
explicitly passed.  However, after doing that it crashes while loading
the sata module.  This is discussed online with no solution presented.

> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
> hardware.
>
> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
> supporting a wider array of hardware.

The problem with those two is I need something that can install to the
HD after wiping it.  I also need something that can install on a 512MB
USB key since my 8GB key does not seem to be bootable.  DSLinux was a
flop as described above, so I'm downloading Puppy Linux now.  It's
about 100MB, and it has the "Puppy Universal Installer" which should
install to my HD.  Hopefully it fares better with my SATA hardware
than DSLinux did.

Also, in case it helps anyone in the future, unetbootin has a very
annoying habit of failing to download the selected ISO, returning no
error, and in fact reporting installation success.  The symptom of
this is a boot menu with only "Default" available, which goes nowhere.
 The solution is to download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to
it.

I'll report back with Puppy Linux results.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>
> DSLinux couldn't find my HD because it needs the "sata" boot parameter
> explicitly passed.  However, after doing that it crashes while loading
> the sata module.  This is discussed online with no solution presented.
>
>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>> hardware.
>>
>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
>> supporting a wider array of hardware.
>
> The problem with those two is I need something that can install to the
> HD after wiping it.  I also need something that can install on a 512MB
> USB key since my 8GB key does not seem to be bootable.  DSLinux was a
> flop as described above, so I'm downloading Puppy Linux now.  It's
> about 100MB, and it has the "Puppy Universal Installer" which should
> install to my HD.  Hopefully it fares better with my SATA hardware
> than DSLinux did.
>
> Also, in case it helps anyone in the future, unetbootin has a very
> annoying habit of failing to download the selected ISO, returning no
> error, and in fact reporting installation success.  The symptom of
> this is a boot menu with only "Default" available, which goes nowhere.
>  The solution is to download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to
> it.
>
> I'll report back with Puppy Linux results.

Puppy Linux has wiped the HD and installed to /dev/sda3, but I can't
get it to install GRUB to /dev/sda1.  I get:

I couldn't mount '/dev/sda1' read-write!

Working on it....

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Alan McKinnon]

On Tuesday 22 December 2009 04:59:02 Grant wrote:

> > I'll report back with Puppy Linux results.
> 
> Puppy Linux has wiped the HD and installed to /dev/sda3, but I can't
> get it to install GRUB to /dev/sda1.  I get:
> 
> I couldn't mount '/dev/sda1' read-write!
> 
> Working on it....

You cannot install grub to /dev/sda1 and expect it to work - that is a 
partition, not a device. 

Grub goes into the MBR of the device, and the various stage 1.5 and stage 2 
support files are put into /boot/grub/. The install app can find those dirs 
just fine as it is a Linux app running on a full mounted Linux system. But, it 
has no clue which MBR you want to be used:

grub-install /dev/sda

If you need grub installed on some other device (not the current machine's own 
boot drive), then mount that drive's /boot somewhere and do something like 
this

grub-install --root-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/<device>


-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Grant]

>>>> New problem: Booted into DSLinux, my HD does not appear so I can't
>>>> wipe it.  blkid and fdisk -l only show the USB stick assigned to
>>>> /dev/sda which is how I accidentally wiped it in the first place.
>>>> I'll try another distro on the USB stick.
>>
>> DSLinux couldn't find my HD because it needs the "sata" boot parameter
>> explicitly passed.  However, after doing that it crashes while loading
>> the sata module.  This is discussed online with no solution presented.
>>
>>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>>> hardware.
>>>
>>> Something like DBAN or SysResCD will have a better chance of
>>> supporting a wider array of hardware.
>>
>> The problem with those two is I need something that can install to the
>> HD after wiping it.  I also need something that can install on a 512MB
>> USB key since my 8GB key does not seem to be bootable.  DSLinux was a
>> flop as described above, so I'm downloading Puppy Linux now.  It's
>> about 100MB, and it has the "Puppy Universal Installer" which should
>> install to my HD.  Hopefully it fares better with my SATA hardware
>> than DSLinux did.
>>
>> Also, in case it helps anyone in the future, unetbootin has a very
>> annoying habit of failing to download the selected ISO, returning no
>> error, and in fact reporting installation success.  The symptom of
>> this is a boot menu with only "Default" available, which goes nowhere.
>>  The solution is to download the ISO manually and point unetbootin to
>> it.
>>
>> I'll report back with Puppy Linux results.
>
> Puppy Linux has wiped the HD and installed to /dev/sda3, but I can't
> get it to install GRUB to /dev/sda1.  I get:
>
> I couldn't mount '/dev/sda1' read-write!
>
> Working on it....

OK, finally got this working.  To fix the above problem I just needed
to create the filesystem.  I had another problem where the kernel file
was not being installed, but I just needed to mount the USB key and
point the installer to the files on /mnt/sdb1 to fix that.

I'm going to keep Puppy Linux on this USB key and use it to quickly
wipe and install when I sell a laptop.

Here is a summary for those looking to boot from, wipe from, and
install from a USB key:

1. Use unetbootin to install your distro of choice on the USB key.
Puppy Linux works well if your USB key is low-capacity since it only
requires around 100MB, and it includes a hard disk installation
routine.  If the USB key fails to boot, consider these 4
possibilities:

1a. If the unetbootin installation procedure executes really quickly,
it may not be downloading the ISO.  In this case, it does not produce
an error and in fact reports installation success.  Download the ISO
manually and point unetbootin to it.

1b.  Assuming /dev/sdb is your USB key:
'cfdisk /dev/sdb' and select type LBA FAT32
'mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n USBKEY /dev/sdb1'
'dd if=/usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb'
'sync'

1c. Make sure your BIOS is set to boot from a USB key before anything else.

1d. Some USB keys are not bootable.

2. Once booted to the USB key, use 'fdisk -l' to be sure the hard disk
has been detected and assigned to /dev/sda.  Use the following to wipe
the hard disk:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4096

3. Use 'fdisk /dev/sda' to partition your hard disk, and mke2fs to
create the filesystems.  Puppy Linux also provides gparted for this.

4. Use the booted distro's installation routine to install to the hard disk.

4a. If installing Puppy Linux, be sure to mount your USB key and point
the installation routine to the files there when prompted.

Done, and thanks for everyone's help.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 471 bytes --]

On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:31:31 -0500, Willie Wong wrote:

> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
> hardware. 

DS = Damn Small, not Dual Screen.

I don't know if anyone has installed Gentoo on the DS you were thinking
of ;-)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

He who laughs last thinks slowest!

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[John H. Moe]

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:31:31 -0500, Willie Wong wrote:
>
>   
>> If DSLinux is what I think it is, it may have been (on hindsight)
>> rather obvious that it may not support the block device your system HD
>> is on or the filesystem used. The DS, afterall, has fairly predictable
>> hardware. 
>>     
>
> DS = Damn Small, not Dual Screen.
>
> I don't know if anyone has installed Gentoo on the DS you were thinking
> of ;-)
>   
The anal-retentive in me feels compelled to point out:

http://www.dslinux.org/
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

DSLinux = Linux on the Nintendo DS
DSL = Damn Small Linux

:-P

John Moe

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Neil Bothwick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 640 bytes --]

On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:04:30 +1000, John H. Moe wrote:

> > DS = Damn Small, not Dual Screen.
> >
> > I don't know if anyone has installed Gentoo on the DS you were
> > thinking of ;-)
> >     
> The anal-retentive in me feels compelled to point out:
> 
> http://www.dslinux.org/
> http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
> 
> DSLinux = Linux on the Nintendo DS
> DSL = Damn Small Linux

I knew about the latter of course, having already mentioned it. I'd also
said I didn't know about the former, so a pointer to is is more helpful
that anal ;-)


-- 
Neil Bothwick

Adolescence, n.: The stage between puberty and adultery.

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Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Willie Wong]

On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 03:41:31PM +0000, Penguin Lover Neil Bothwick squawked:
> > http://www.dslinux.org/
> > http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
> > 
> > DSLinux = Linux on the Nintendo DS
> > DSL = Damn Small Linux
> 
> I knew about the latter of course, having already mentioned it. I'd also
> said I didn't know about the former, so a pointer to is is more helpful
> that anal ;-)
> 
Yeah, the former was what I was thinking of... hence my comment about
predictable hardware. I've always assumed Damn Small Linux was for
embedded devices, but apparently I am way off base now that I've
looked at their website. 

Cheers, 

W

-- 
Marten:   There. Is. No. God.
Pintsize: If there is, He or She must think vomit and testicle
    injuries are hilarious.
Sortir en Pantoufles: up 1110 days, 22:04

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Marcus Wanner]

On 12/18/2009 8:58 PM, Grant wrote:
>>> I used unetbootin to install Damn Small Linux on the 512MB bootable
>>> USB key, and I'm booted into it.  /dev/sda is my HD, and I'm running:
>>>
>>> dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
>>>
>>> The USB LED is blinking rapidly, but the HD LED is showing no
>>> activity.  Is there any way to tell if the HD is being wiped?
>>>        
>> The hdd IS being wiped, if you have the right device (which you do, don't
>> worry!). However, I would recommend running with if=/dev/urandom as that
>> will overwrite it with random bits instead of just zero. However, since it's
>> already being done with zeros and a hard drive would usually be sold with
>> all bits set to zero, I think what you are doing will be fine.
>>      
> I checked on it after a few hours and it said "No space left on
> device" and the process had exited.  I rebooted the system without the
> key inserted and unfortunately it came back up to the normal HD so
> nothing has been wiped.  Any idea what I did wrong?
>    
First of all, make sure that /dev/sda really is your hdd. You can do 
this in different ways, e.x. mounting the partition with your system on 
it and seeing if the files are there). Keep in mind that I believe the 
latest version of DSL still uses /dev/hda for IDE disks, so try that if 
it turns out that /dev/sdx isn't your disk.

Marcus

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Albert Hopkins]

On Fri, 2009-12-18 at 09:08 -0800, Grant wrote:
> 
> After reading over all the info here, I think I'm going to go with dd
> since the data isn't too sensitive.
> 
> I created a "9.1_Live_x64" USB key with unetbootin, but the laptop
> won't boot to it.  I have another 512MB USB key that it boots to just
> fine.  Could my 8GB key be non-bootable?  The laptop's CD drive isn't
> working so I need another way to install an easy copy of Linux after I
> dd.

They should appear the same.. I'm guessing this is a hardware/BIOS
issue.  I have different sized USB sticks and drives they boot fine.
Maybe your BIOS has a 2G boot partition limitation (or whatever the size
is)?  You may need to "partition" your 8G stick LOL.

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[John Lowry]

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
> 

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Dan Cowsill]

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

Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} Preparing a laptop for sale

[Alex Schuster]

Joshua Murphy writes:

> A) To fill the drive with zeros:
>    dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/<drive>

Should be enough for practical purposes.

> B) And, to make it at least questionable whether you wiped it or
> merely had it encrypted:
>    dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/<drive>

Similar method, but faster: badblocks -t random -w /dev/<drive>
You can interrupt this after the first pass when the reading & comparing 
part starts.

	Wonko