02befree wrote:I replace failed/failing HD's frequently and have several dead HD's in a stack in my office.
02befree wrote:I DBAN all drives.
I write as someone who has been involved in corporate data destruction issues, and one of the problems is that for a "failing" disk (which I define for this purpose, as one which you cannot read completely & without error, and so includes "failed" and "dead" drives) then either:
a) DBAN might stop with an I/O error before completion, so the original data may remain (at least partially) intact, and able to be recovered by those with suitable skills & equipment; or
b) DBAN might appear to succeed, but you can't read the whole drive, so you can't confirm that it succeeded - so again the original data may remain (at least partially) intact, and able to be recovered by those with suitable skills & equipment.
Therefore for "failing" (or "failed" or "dead") drives, DBAN (and other similar techniques) cannot be relied upon IMHO. Just my $0.02.