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Re: [PLUG] Hard Drive warranty RMA
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Really, it was a question! Here is a twist on it.
Here is an interesting scenario. I have a very old drive that I figure I might be getting rid of at some point, but I still use it with the very old machine. I have been deleting personal files off of it, but leaving system files and other things on it. Say many personal files were removed not using shred, or it is a file system where shred is not as effective.
So in this particular case, can I make a giant file to occupy the available space on the disk, and then write to it, thus erasing any residual data? Will making that large file fill in all the gaps in the disk that need to be filled? After writing to the large file, one could delete it and resume using the drive with the existing files. In the case of ext3, I guess I would have to fully understand how file placement and fragmentation works to answer the question. But if I can verify that the total usage of the disk is very close if not exact with it's capacity, I know I would be pretty close to wiping out all the free space.
If not, how could all the available space on the drive be written to without disturbing existing files?
This way the disk would always be ready for disposal, even if it fails.
Edmond
----- Original Message ----
> From: K.S. Bhaskar <ksbhaskar@gmail.com>
> To: Philadelphia Linux User's Group Discussion List <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>
> Sent: Monday, August 3, 2009 4:18:13 PM
> Subject: Re: [PLUG] Hard Drive warranty RMA
>
> On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 4:04 PM, Edmond Rodriguezwrote:
> >
> >>>create a large file on a mounted partition from
> >>>/dev/urandom, write it to the drive to be wiped with dd, then read the
> >>>data and ensure that it matches that which was written.
> >
> > Why not just create a file large as could be on the disk and write some
> constant character to it, say "a". Then unmount the disk, remount it, and scan
> for anything that is not "a" in that large as can be file?
>
> [KSB] There's more than one way to skin a cat. [Of course, as a
> vegetarian, I prefer to skin a carrot, but there's no accounting for
> taste!]
>
> -- Bhaskar
> ___________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
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