Wondering how to use DBAN - This might help - new user

A

alexdeves

New Member
If you are wondering how to use DBAn... below is some info that was helpful to me.

First off the program is simple to use. I think it is just the idea of nuking your hard drive that makes it seem like it would be hard to use.

The following link helped me get a better idea of what to do. Links to PDF with screen shots.

www.security.ku.edu/download/DBAN_Tutorial.pdf

Program worked awesome for me. I used the PRNG Stream method. It seemed the most secure considering it over writes the hard drive with random numbers rather then just 1's or 0's. I selected 8 rounds/passes of over writing. Selected verify on last pass... rather then each. Nuked 15 gb hard drive in less then 2.5 hours.

All the best,

Alex
 
Different story for Me!

Hey Alex,

I used the PRNG Stream with 8 passes, I'm into the second pass at 48 hours now? See my last new topic for detailed information...This pass is now down to less than 1 B/s, with 120,000 of throughput left. When I started checking te screen on this pass throughput was at 900K plus. What did I do wrong? I also have a 15 GB Hard Drive with less than half used... P 3, 550 mhz.

Geof
 
Different story for Me!

Hey Alex,

I used the PRNG Stream with 8 passes, I'm into the second pass at 48 hours now? See my last new topic for detailed information...This pass is now down to less than 1 B/s, with 120,000 of throughput left. When I started checking te screen on this pass throughput was at 900K plus. What did I do wrong? I also have a 15 GB Hard Drive with less than half used... P 3, 550 mhz.

Geof
 
I am no expert... only used DBAN the one time.

My CPU was similar to yours... 500 mhz P2.. with 128mb RAM. My 15 GB hard drive was nearly full... less then 800 mb of open space. Not sure if the unused hard drive space slows up DBAN or makes it faster? My thought would be that it makes no difference... since the data gets overwritten on everything.

Did you check the hard drive for erros prior to running DBAN? I believe it is called Check Disk in Windows. Go to your hard drive in my computer, right click the hard drive, select properties, tools tab, error checking. When I ran it... I cam up with no errors.

Maybe the hard drive has a bad connection... that is why it is writing slow? I would think that if the connection was bad it wouldn't write at all.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Alex
 
To late to Try!

Nobody said anything about checking hard drive before running Dban, anyway it is to late now!!! But computer was running fine before, and was virus free according to AVG.

Slowing down to 34B per minute, with 104,000 throughputs left to go. If this slow down rate keeps up, I think it will stop before completing the second pass.... Then what do I do??? Or, I'll be 105 years old when it completes the wipe.
 
sounds like hardware not software issue

Slow speed sounds like hardware issue... not software.

Are you running DBAN from CD or Floppy? I ran mine from floppy... had issues getting it to run from CD. My CD drive was a slow 4x max device from 1999.

What is the rest of your hard ware config... hard drive info... ATA, etc.

You can always quit DBAN (shut off computer), Re boot and try again with different DBAN settings. It isn't like you are going to loose anything... hard drive has already been over written nearly twice!


Again, not trying to pretend like I know the answers to this. Only used the program once... can tell you what worked for me.

Best of luck,

Alex
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top