For those who haven't heard about DBAN..

[Cosmicbrat]

DBAN is thee state of the art hard drive eraser.. Make the ISO.. For sure remove all external media from the USB slots.. DBAN will destroy the front ends of flashes and external hd's in just seconds after it starts its run.. Type in 'autonuke', enter, and return in a few hours.. Press and hold the start button.. Change disks to the Kubuntu install DVD at any time when DBAN is running...

It's weird that DBAN doesn't work in this Dell Studio XPS..? I must DBAN the hd in another machine..
Anyone know why DBAN won't work in this Dell..?

[NickStone]

Yes I've heard of it and have used it a few times. Depending on the size of the hard disk, it can take several hours to overwrite it. DBAN does a very good job at destroying data on the hard disk but in theory data can still be recovered. The best way to destroy data on a hard disk whereby it can never be recovered is to smash the hard disk to pieces using a hammer.

In answer to your question about your Dell PC, I can only assume that it is something to do with the type of hard disk installed.

[sithlord48]

iirc its something like 7 or 10 full writes with alternating /dev/urandom and /dev/zero whipes and recovery becomes very difficult.. if you just destroy the platter w/ a hammer it can be put back together and read .

[Qqmike]

As of circa 2008 or so, there have been a lot of misconceptions about the wiping business, how to do it, number of passes, etc. I wrote this June 9th, 2008, haven't read it lately, but it may help to pinpoint some of the issues and long-standing opinions.

How to securely delete data
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post107356

Executive summary, of sorts ...

How many "overwrites" are needed to safely wipe your data?
Can you recover overwritten data?
How should you overwrite your data?
How about the government DoD 7-pass standard?
and, finally,
-> My take on this -- A prescription for your data wiping

Answers:
One.
No.
Any way you wish.
Where did THAT come from?
My take on this? See below.

Here's the scoop, my logic, and I'm going to be brief because we have better things to do in this how-to.
The references are the key ...

[GreyGeek]

IF you don't want to keep the drive then use a BurnzOmatic torch and heat the platters to at least 800C (dull red) or higher. That destroys the magnetism capability of the platter. Fry the electronics while you are at it.

Hammering the platter usually deforms or bends them and also prevents them from spinning smoothly, so the R/W head will not float over the surface any more, making reading the drive impossible, and causing the head to crash into the platter, destroying the surface at those locations. The ridges will destroy the R/W head they hit it. "Smoothing" the platters flat enough to allow the R/W head to float also destroys the magnetic domains.

[Qqmike]

re DBAN ... Starman's caution (NOTE: This was last checked in 2008):

"But you must exercise caution with this disk [DBAN]: It's easy to set it up to automatically wipe every drive on your computer!" Copyright©2003-2008 by Daniel B. Sedory

http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/WIPE.html#DBAN