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#1 2019-05-24 06:51:32

catnap
Member
Registered: 2016-10-03
Posts: 131

[SOLVED] How to securely wipe an SMB partition

I have an old Seagate PersonalCloud disk which has started to seem too bulky, power consuming, and clumsy to use. I have only managed to mount it as a network device and not as a physical device through USB, even if the device should have this functionality in principle. Part of the issue could be Linux compatibility but I have not had the patience to try to understand the workings of this somewhat complicated device. I would now like to wipe and decommission the device. That too seems to pose problems because the device is not listed as a physical device in lsblk -f, fdisk -l, or similar listings. I therefore struggle to get a handle on the device that would enable wiping. I've understood from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Se … _disk#wipe that writing over specific files does not yet suffice for information security. Therefore, is there a way to securely wipe a device that only appears to the system as an SMB device and not as a physical device?

Last edited by catnap (2019-06-11 09:36:45)

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#2 2019-05-24 07:31:57

V1del
Forum Moderator
Registered: 2012-10-16
Posts: 21,427

Re: [SOLVED] How to securely wipe an SMB partition

You don't have access to the physical layout you can't (and you are most likely to only have access to a very controlled subsystem of files over the samba, share which will not include configurations and the like), however most of the NAS drives do either have a webinterface, or potentially some hardware pin. Alternatively most of these allow you to simply physically remove the actual harddisk that you could connect through standard means.

Last edited by V1del (2019-05-24 13:45:47)

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#3 2019-05-24 16:53:31

catnap
Member
Registered: 2016-10-03
Posts: 131

Re: [SOLVED] How to securely wipe an SMB partition

It seems that the best option is probably to take the the device apart and then connect it with a suitable adapter. There is an interesting tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxyg9AJ9eMs. I believe that caution is necessary when performing such an intrusive operation on a HD and I have therefore backed up all the data.

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#4 2019-05-28 14:16:41

catnap
Member
Registered: 2016-10-03
Posts: 131

Re: [SOLVED] How to securely wipe an SMB partition

I have now extracted the main hard disk from the Seagate PersonalCloud device, powered it on, and attached it to my computer using and adapter. However, the device does not seem to be listed by lsblk -f. The dmesg gives the following

[16324.162665] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access                                    PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS
[16324.163258] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[16324.164075] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 0 512-byte logical blocks: (0 B/0 B)
[16324.164079] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 0-byte physical blocks
[16324.164517] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Test WP failed, assume Write Enabled
[16324.164967] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Asking for cache data failed
[16324.164975] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[16324.168037] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk

I hope it is safe for me to start wiping the disk. Usually I try to take some steps to ensure that the disk that I'm erasing is the correct one. I might, for example, try to check the size and the model number, etc. Is there a way to do some such verification before erasing if the device is not listed in the usual device list?

Edit [2019-05-28 14:55 UTC]: The author took a calculated risk and started wiping the disk. This seems to have payed off because there has been no loss of relevant data.

Last edited by catnap (2019-05-28 14:57:59)

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