I thought the 'shred' command on my Linux machine was just for show until I saw a forensics report recover a 'deleted' file from a drive I only formatted once.

Now I run 'shred -n 3 -z -v' on any drive before I donate it, but is there a faster method for a 2TB drive that's just as secure?

3 comments

3 Comments

ben48616d ago

ATA Secure Erase is definitely the way to go for speed. I used hdparm to trigger it on an old drive and it was done in minutes instead of hours. Just make sure your drive's firmware isn't buggy.

jesse29017d ago

Have you looked into using the ATA Secure Erase command? It's built into the drive's firmware and usually way faster for a full wipe. The trick is making sure your drive actually supports it properly.

elizabeth22014d ago

The 3-pass shred on a 2TB drive is a real test of patience. I tried the ATA Secure Erase with hdparm on a 1TB SSD and it finished in about 90 seconds, which felt like magic. But you have to check the drive's exact model for firmware issues, because a failed secure erase can lock the drive forever. That's why I always do a dry run with the - security-check flag first.