this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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I have a stack of SATA hard drives that I need to erase.

I have a USB drive dock, a box that a drive can be set into that connects to my computer via USB-3.

I am using DD to write zeros to the raw device, in this case, /dev/sdf.

No matter the actual size of the drive dd stops at about 3 to 7 gb. These are 300 gb to 3 TB drives.

I am not mounting the drives, but I do ensure they are visible to the system with lsblk. To change drives I turn off the dock. The drive then disappears from lsblk. When I insert a different drive and turn the dock back on again /dev/sdf re-appears.

Are all my drives bad? If they are I will need to have them "professionally" destroyed at about $25 a drive.

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[–] kool_newt 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are these ssd or rotational? SSD will typically have a firmware erase, look into SMART.

[–] BaelfireNightshd 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Most HDDs also have a firmware erase. Just it’s significantly slower than an SSD. The big issue is many USB SATA docks don’t support sending the commands.

[–] kool_newt 1 points 1 year ago