Hi all.
I have a question about erasing hard drives.
I have to erase 2 000 hard drives (1 TB each) per month, and reuse it.
I can't use Degausser cause it will destroy my HDDs.
I'm thinking about that problem three days and have no idea how to do this. Data in the HDD can't be recoverable.
Please help me guys, or i'll be erasing drives 24/24h and 30days per month.

If you want to go cheap, you could just setup linux on a system with lots of drive bays. I have a linux system that I use to wipe larger drives at speeds up to 200MB/second using the following command:

ddrescue --force /dev/zero /dev/{drive}

The only reason I use ddrescue over dd is so I can see how how fast it is going.

I haven't played with this unit, but it might be worth looking at, if you are willing to spend $1000

http://www.startech.com/HDD/Duplicators ... n~SATDUP13

My only question with it is can you connect 4 drives of different sizes and fully wipe all 4 at the same time.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Buy SATA Controller card which supports 16 or 32 drives

Boot Linux with pre-defined script to zero-fill those connected drives
and leave it running to complete wipe

(you may add as many cards as you want with Ext. PSU)

Option 2:

but those Hardware wiping tools (which does the same - more or less) but expensive stuff. may support upto 16 drives (i think) per unit
more drives = more you pay

better option 1

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

Thank you for the replay.
For example when i work 20days per month, 8 hours per day i need to wipe 100 HDDs per day.
Using ddrescue i need 5hours for each drive. I can buy sata pcie controller with additional memory and wipe 8 drivers per 5 hours, that's would be 1,5h/drive. I'm looking for something faster.

Meybe is there a way to hotplug 16HDDs to one server and wipe it all at once? Can i use two or three sata controllers and wipe all drives at the same time? Wichone controller and software can you recommend for this usage? Meybe "Secure Erase" will be faster than ddrescue? Can i hotplug HDDs to sata controller?

You can combine up to 200 Atola Disk Recycler each for up to 4 hdd and
control it via Lan on one PC - have all hdd running same or even different scripts.
Scripts are definable out of over 70 commands. Editor is included.

Detailed info can be found at:

http://www.atola-europe.com/index.php?p ... k-recycler

+++

Atola is too expensive for me at this moment. I will use 2 raid controllers with 64 drives at one moment. Can you give me some advice wichone controller should i use? With dedicated memory or without? Can i hotplug SATA drives?

An internal ATA Secure Erase doesn't transfer data over the SATA interface, so it will not load the SATA controller or host CPU. Only a single ATA command is required to start the process. Moreover, an Enhanced Secure Erase will also overwrite any reallocated sectors. That's something that application software cannot do.

If you examine the Identify Device report from the drive, it will usually tell you how long a secure erase operation should take.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

DDrescue will fill the bandwidth of any connection you put it on. We use it for wiping in our shop because it's great for wiping drives even if they have bad sectors. It just skips the bad sectors whereas dd would stop if it found one. Now, the bad sectors aren't wiped but that's not a big issue as they can't be read in the first place.

If you want a little extra security, use /dev/urandom as your source instead of /dev/zero. DDrescue can wipe as many drives simultaneously as you need, just run separate instances of the command.

heres what i will hopefully be building...

using "http://www.provantage.com/startech-satdock4u2e~7STR91XY.htm" a 4 drive DOCK station that supports individual *esata* ports and individual power per drive

& http://www.cooldrives.com/es4rapcicafo.html 4 port esata PCI card...

and a mother board with pci slots capable of running Partedmagic (i like the erase drive application) off of USB pendrive...
the concept is to attached as many 4 esata port docks & issues the secure erase command through the erase application

that way each drive wipes it self & low cpu utilization,... also the "Toaster" design will help in swapping out hard drives as they finish with out mounting brackets or placing hap-hazard cables all over the place.. or hard drive piling....

thats cool but what about IDE drives.....

ive used these little bad boys & really have not had any problem with them
http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Pr ... u=12684956

need more wiping just order another set & you have 4 more drives to go

I was recently looking to purchase one of those 4-drive docks from StarTech but was warned by other purchasers that it doesn't handle failing drives or drives with bad blocks well. If you are trying to wipe drives with bad blocks, it could be an issue for you. I do wipe drives with StarTech's single-drive docks without issue for what it's worth. StarTech makes excellent docks and enclosures.

Also note on ddrescue that there are really two programs: ddrescue and "GNU"ddrescue/gddrescue which confusingly enough is called with the command ddrescue. Make sure you're using the latter, it's way more up-to-date and less buggy.

well my main focus is just going to issue the secure erase command,,, let the drive wipe it self through the ata command.. that's why im looking specifically for the 4 esatas on the dock station, i was under the impression that secure erase also handled bad sectors gracefully, with out having to relay back to the ata bus.

ddrescue not dd_rescue correct..

I wouldn't use security erase in a highly secure environment.

Experience tells me that it's unreliable (data can still be found) especially on Samsung HDD's

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

I have a set of these, been working great for me. Quite a bit of expandability as well.

http://www.cprtools.com/index.php?main_ ... 65e24b5fcb

can you elaborate a bit on how to retrieve the data,,, I'm pro sanitizing drives in my work place & i have to assure my methods to my superiors,,, or else we will be "hammering drives to pieces"

Full media write. Is only way to guarantee erasure (if no grown defects)

retrieve data is secret

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

unless your alluding to recover data from the g-list bad sectors, i think im in good shape for my department

An ATA enhanced secure erase is specified to erase all sectors, including the reallocated ones, bugs notwithstanding.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

As Frank says "bugs"

I have examined Samsungs where data is still recoverable in standard user mode after SE.

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All went well until I plugged the drive in.

I gotcha, let me start examining drives

DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) launched from a write-protected memory card card (using some cheap usb card reader for example), it will utilize anything connected to any sata port and any usb device writable
To erase many drives, i would Buy few cheap computers (as many as You will need to), managing them to connect as many sata drives per unit as possible (expansion cards, adding controllers with more ports..)