DBAN On External USB HDD
- Thread starter w4rp
- Start date
Are you trying to erase the whole computer (with the external drive), or just the drive? For the latter job, I'd definitely use Eraser rather than DBAN.
For the former case, I'm afraid I don't know the answer; there is no guidance on the DBAN website, and the product is currently unsupported. You could try burning the ISO image and booting with it, so see what drives it finds. If that's too risky in your circumstances (as it may well be), use Eraser to clear the external drive, and then DBAN to 'nuke' the internal drives.
David
For the former case, I'm afraid I don't know the answer; there is no guidance on the DBAN website, and the product is currently unsupported. You could try burning the ISO image and booting with it, so see what drives it finds. If that's too risky in your circumstances (as it may well be), use Eraser to clear the external drive, and then DBAN to 'nuke' the internal drives.
David
Yes I just want to erase the external HDD.
Eraser doesn't seem to do the job, it leaves filenames which can be recovered, which isn't good enough for me.
What is so risky about booting up the CD? Surely no harm done in just taking a look at which drives it recognizes?
Thank you for your help.
Eraser doesn't seem to do the job, it leaves filenames which can be recovered, which isn't good enough for me.
What is so risky about booting up the CD? Surely no harm done in just taking a look at which drives it recognizes?
Thank you for your help.
What files does Eraser leave? Is it just the pesky protected stuff like System Volume Information and maybe the Recycled folder? Eraser can't touch files that the running system is protecting (and that, these days, is quite a lot, some of it even on non-system drives). Assuming that you are trying to clear the drive, I suggest that you erase what files on the drive you can, then do a quick format, then use Eraser to wipe the free space. Eraser doesn't usually leave file names, so if you still have an issue when you've done as I suggested, please post the details on the Eraser Support forum.w4rp said:
Given that the purpose of DBAN is to 'nuke' a whole system, I don't get to use it that oftenw4rp said:
I therefore hesitate to advise somebody to try something which is so potentially destructive if it goes wrong, and which I haven't done myself ...David
I didn't realize DBAN was so ruthless, I thought it would've at least gave you a final yes/no choice
You're probably right, I used CCleaner's wipe free space as well as Eraser, it could be that CCleaner is making those files visible to me, in Eraser however I get alot of error messages about it not being able to erase cluster tips.
Also I tried booting up dban, but it just hangs at a black screen with a line of text at the top when booting up.
When I put the CD in the drive and try to open it with explorer my OS stops responding until I eject it from the tray.
I'll format and erase free space with eraser, are you sure that it will have the same effect as DBANing internal hard drives? If necessary I would be okay with running DBAN on my internal hard drives (time for a reformat anyway) if it did the same to my USB drive.
You're probably right, I used CCleaner's wipe free space as well as Eraser, it could be that CCleaner is making those files visible to me, in Eraser however I get alot of error messages about it not being able to erase cluster tips.
Also I tried booting up dban, but it just hangs at a black screen with a line of text at the top when booting up.
When I put the CD in the drive and try to open it with explorer my OS stops responding until I eject it from the tray.
I'll format and erase free space with eraser, are you sure that it will have the same effect as DBANing internal hard drives? If necessary I would be okay with running DBAN on my internal hard drives (time for a reformat anyway) if it did the same to my USB drive.
I'm afraid I do not remember the exact sequence (hence the caution; it's rather a difficult app to test if you don't have a machine you want to nuke!). But there is advice on this forum that you should physically disconnect any drive you don't want wiped before you run DBAN. Joel replied that this is not strictly necessary if you know what you are doing, but I don't find that much comfort ...w4rp said:
Which are actually information rather than a problem. But they do indicate that you are not deleting (or erasing) everything on the drive before wiping the free space.w4rp said:
Is your machine set up in the BIOS to boot from CD first?w4rp said:
As it is in, I think, Linux format, that would not be surprising.w4rp said:
Yes, though life is always full of surprisesw4rp said:
. If in doubt, run Recuva on the drive to check.David
