Wipe USB HDD With DBAN

I have a client HDD that the client wants wiped securely due to infection/malfunction/whatever. In fact when starting the OS with that HDD it only shortly boots up and then shuts down abruptly. Since the task is not to investigate the cause of this error (and an external backup of all sensitive data has very wisely previously been done) but to prepare the HDD for fresh installation of the OS I would like to wipe this drive with DBAN.

However I cannot remember how to wipe a drive connected via USB in DBAN. It is actually an internal HDD that I have taken out and plugged into a QuickPort Combo.

I have not used DBAN in a long time so please forgive me for asking this question if the answer is obvious. Somehow it seems that DBAN will "autonuke" all drives it finds when booting with the CD, however I don't want my own HDDs to be gone but only the hooked up HDD from the client.

How do I proceed? Yes I do like to use DBAN for this and only DBAN.

Thank you for any help or input.

 

Here's what I would do:

1. Power down your computer.
2. Open the case & unplug the SATA cables to all of your HDDs.
3. Plug the primary SATA cable into the client's HDD only.
4. Reboot, insert DBAN CD, and proceed to wipe client's HDD.
5. Power down again, disconnect client's HDD, plug yours back in, reboot, DONE.

 

Skip dban, Boot into a linux Live CD and run shred, or on another system mount the drive in windows and use eraser to wipe it. using DBAN on a USB HDD could result in damaging your own data unless you unplug everything first. It would be much easier to use a tool like Eraser or Shred.

 

Hmm, from the looks of it and from the clients requirements I am for sures going to skip opening my baby and unplugging all its goodness just to be able to wipe that laptop drive, that any ways, seems to be faulty by the looks of it with FTK Imager.

Had another chat with the client today and they are not sure about having all the files in the backup that they have done. So naturally I started to make a dd raw image of the drive with FTK Imager. It started fine and now seems to be kind of stuck round the middle of the HDD, or basically it started to become ve-e-e-ery slow, so to speak taking about 10sec for 1-2MB of data. Also the Estimated Time Left constantly and slowly increases instead of getting less and less. Well since I have time I will just let this run and see if FTK Imager can scan through the errors of the disk. Since this job does not have a deadline or is super important I can just let it run and see what happens. Or not? Advice with similar situation?

About DBAN:
Is there another software maybe that uses DBAN's code or at least routines (yes for sure I will sheck shred and eraser, thanks for letting me know about those) and/or algorithms for wiping the drive? It seems to me that DBAN really is great when it comes to securely wiping drives, but the fact that it cannot be pointed to a single drive on a system seems to be a missing feature badly need on an otherwise great tool. Has anyone coded up some script perhaps that points DBAN to single HDDs instead of wiping all drives? Is there something similar, like a hack or trick to make DBAN work like that?

About FTK Imager:
Has any one had experience with making a dd raw image with FTK Imager and during the process the drive becoming very slow and constantly re-reading, or from the sounds of the drive re-spinning up, to scan the drive? I mean the process does make progress it has just become very slow. Like I said about 10sec for 1-2MB of data. Is it a good idea at all to continue imaging this drive or would I be better off just copying the sensitive data the client wants saved, skip the imaging and then simply wipe the drive? What is your experience with this?

Again thanks for the valuable input. Every time I come here I do enjoy learning more and more computers.

Have a good weekend every one!

Laters..

 

Well the question about the FTK Imager and the process getting slower and slower has resolved itself. Error 55.

Now I will try those suggested tools to wipe the disk. However I believe this will not be possible since FTK Imager cannot completely read the HDD. Let' see..

Again thanks for the suggested tools to do this without DBAN.