Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

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Hard-Boiled
Posts: 32
youtube meble na wymiar Warszawa
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 9:31 pm

Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by Hard-Boiled »

Hi,
not sure, whether I'm using the Right thread, but i'll give it a try ;-)

I searched for a "Secure erase/Wipe Utility/app" running directly from the NAS and/or from an APP. However, there don't seem to be one available...

Anyone aware of such an Util/App ?

PS: or, any other Suggestion to do the same job ?

Thanks in Advance !
Ubuntux
Posts: 87
Joined: Mon May 26, 2014 1:56 am
Location: Denmark
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Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by Ubuntux »

I just sent a request to Asustor support team.

Hi Asustor,

Erasing a disk takes long time, especially if it's done proper way, ensuring that data can't be restored. It's an option to use a computer for this, but it might be smarter to use a NAS for lower power consumption and it can take up to days and format a drive, so leaving your computer home is not always an option.
It should be possible to format an internal drive or external drive and it would be nice, if you simply use some Linux tool, that it can be encrypted, this would make the restore process even more difficulty.

Thanks in advance.
AS-604T & AS-202T
dryteletubby
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 9:54 pm

Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by dryteletubby »

Is there an app for that I have a bad disk that I want to wipe before replacing
Hard-Boiled
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun May 08, 2016 9:31 pm

Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by Hard-Boiled »

Hi, any news (app) or plans on this subject ? Thanks
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father.mande
Posts: 1810
Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 2:55 am
Location: La Rochelle (France)

Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by father.mande »

Hi,

If you have a minimum of Linux skills you can use the dd command
... to write zero or random (better) value on all the partition (disk or files)
... running same dd up to 3 times (or more) prevent tools (from external guys) to be able to restore some value ...
... 1 time is enough for non sensitive data
... 2 good for increasing security
... 3 for better secure
... 4 to 6 for VERY sensitive data or for paranoid people ...

Lot examples are available on the Web ...

a dd is provide by Asustor ... but not full (BusyBox applet) ... Entware provide "coreutils-dd" package with a full gnu dd

Philippe.
AS6602T / AS5202T /AS5002T / AS1002T / FS6706T
SamInMT
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:28 am

Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by SamInMT »

Tried searching knowledge-base, college, forums using following search terms: secure erase, erasing, drive wipe, zero-fill, shred and file shredder

Only found information online that eluded to fact that only some NAS makers, and probably only on very expensive enterprise models at that, support secure erase applications. My lower-end Asustor AS6404t does not have an App or built in feature to do this.

I had to turn one of my notebook computers into a Linux machine and let it set for days on end doing nothing but securely erasing my 4TB to 8TB external USB drives and also had to buy a USB to SATA powered adapter as well (not all of them work well, so read reviews carefully before buying one).

I didn’t want to tie up my (home) work-horse computers with securely erasing my old hard drives (now that i bought a good NAS). Seems the point of a NAS is that is should offload a lot of work with all of my drive management for me. It’s essentially a dedicated hard-drive-computer so it's a little sad that i can’t use it to wipe / erase / zero-fill my hard drives

Also took a while to find the best software solution to erasing all of my old disks. None of the Linux tools i tried were very stable or had the features i wanted.
- I wanted something to do random 0’s and 1’s only, on a single pass.
- I also wanted the scrubber to work with 3 or more USB disks at the same time.
- I needed good logging / reporting as well.
- It had to boot direct from a USB drive so i could use it on a small notebook PC without worrying about it running from the installed OS.
The only tool i found that was able to do everything i wanted was active@killdisk:
https://www.killdisk.com/eraser.html
https://www.killdisk.com/killdisk-home.htm

It was a little expensive at $50 for the software, $40 for USB to SATA controller, and $80 for an old Intel i5 laptop at recycling center, but i’ll use it even more, now that i can keep consolidating all of my drives into my new NAS. I’m actually glad i’m not eating up my NAS to do this menial of task work anyway – so it definitely worked out for the best! I sold all of my old HDD"s on eBay and helped keep crappy spinning drives out of the landfill a while longer.

There might be a way to use the Linux Central App (with Debian 10 Desktop) to access local drives on the Asustor NAS - but i couldn't figure it out even with a ticket to Asus support team. At that point you could use the freeware or paid version of Active KillDisk, or other drive scrubber software, and do the job that way. Since i'm a tech at a hospital it was a good training / learning experience anyway.

Hope this helps!
ddaniel51
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:11 pm

Re: Secure erase/wipe - Utility/App

Post by ddaniel51 »

Before retirement I worked for a Public Safety organization in their technical section. Their IT head came to me wanting to erase a large number of hard drives before disposing of them. I demonstrated that a 10mm hole drilled all the way through the drive offset from the spindle 40mm was a quick and efficient method of shattering all the platters and rendering the data safe from extraction. Inexpensive too.
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