Wiping HDD securely before RMA

[OverDrive]

Hi guys,

One of the WD Reds in my Syno NAS has developed a bad sector - still under warranty so will RMA.

I was planning on removing it from my NAS and hooking it up to my PC and formatting it - what's the best way to do it securely these days? Windows Disk Management console, DiskPart etc?

I believe the drive is in the ext4 file system, so guessing I can just delete the volume and then format from there, the key thing here is the formatting securely element.

Many thanks.

 

[mrbazmondo]

It depends what you mean by secure erase. A full format should write to every sector destroying the data, but there are also tools to write several patterns over the disk to make sure no one with special recovery hardware can recover your data.
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/make-your-recoverable-datas-unrecoverable/

 

[andy_mk3]

DBAN should do the trick.

 

[OverDrive]

Thanks for the replies.

It depends what you mean by secure erase. A full format should write to every sector destroying the data, but there are also tools to write several patterns over the disk to make sure no one with special recovery hardware can recover your data.

Not too worried about writing several patterns, just a regular but reasonably safe erase. So, would a regular full (rather than quick) format be sufficient?

 

[SupraWez]

Was the disk part of a raid set?

Depending on your data held on the disk a regular format may not be sufficient, there are plenty of tools as mentioned above to secure erase the disk, as there are also plenty of tools to recover data

A quick format doesn't touch the data at all, gives the impression of blank space and new data when added overwrites the old data.

 

[OverDrive]

Thanks guys!

Was the disk part of a raid set?

Yes, the disk is part of a RAID 1 set.

So at a minimum, full format - but ideally using a secure erase tool?

How about cipher.exe in Windows?

 

[OverDrive]

As said above DBAN looks good.

I guess I better disconnect the two SSDs in my rig before I use it.. just in case I accidently wipe one of them!

 

[APM]

CCCleaner has a 3 and a 7 pass write option I believe.

 

[mrbazmondo]

A quick format doesn't touch the data at all, gives the impression of blank space and new data when added overwrites the old data.

Yep, a quick format is like rubbing out the contents/index pages on a book and leaving the rest of the book intact, then assuming the book is blank because you trust the contents/index page completely as your only guide to whats on the other pages.

 

[CaptainCrash]

As said above DBAN looks good.

I guess I better disconnect the two SSDs in my rig before I use it.. just in case I accidently wipe one of them!

I wouldn't bother faffing around with DBAN; it will certainly do the job, but as long as you're using Vista or later a full (not quick) format will zero-fill the drive and is quicker, more convenient and equally effective for any practical purpose. If you have any doubts, try finding one single documented case of usable data being recovered following a one-pass zero fill...

 

[TeraVirus]

DBAN and CCleaner can do the job.

I've used the 7 pass wipe for my drives for sale, nothing could be found after a scan of the drives with Recuva.

 

[FlyingScotsman]

DBAN and CCleaner can do the job.

I've used the 7 pass wipe for my drives for sale, nothing could be found after a scan of the drives with Recuva.

^^

 

[darael]

I delete all partitions in diskpart, then use HD Tune to erase the entire drive with zeros.

 

[OverDrive]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I actually formatted the HDD using the WD utility in the end as I had it installed for running a SMART test before the RMA. It has a quick and full wipe option, so I did the full which I assume like the full format in Windows fills the drive with zeros, it took around 4-5hrs to format a 3TB WD Red.

As said above, a normal full format is no doubt sufficient.