Ubuntu wipe hard drive. Formatting the drive or just deleting files isn’t enough – remnants often leave data recoverable. Feb 1, 2024 · Alternatively, opt for Erase Ubuntu and reinstall to format the hard drive and initiate a fresh Ubuntu installation. This blog will provide you with a detailed understanding of erasing disks in Ubuntu, including fundamental concepts, usage Feb 7, 2025 · Install Ubuntu: When prompted, choose the option to erase the disk and install Ubuntu. In this guide, I‘ll outline 5 tools you can use to completely obliterate any trace of data from a drive on an Ubuntu system: I‘ll go into detail on how each method works and show clear examples of the exact commands needed to thoroughly wipe your hard drive. Aug 27, 2025 · I'm regularly buying new hard drive/swapping them between machines in my homelab. Steps: Create a bootable Linux USB drive or DVD. Apr 12, 2025 · Explains how remove all partitions, data and create an empty disk under Linux operating systems using the dd or shred or scrub command. Jun 4, 2019 · The simple technique requiring no special tools would be to boot from a Live Linux USB and then overwrite the hard drive. It seems doing this from GParted, however when I try to put information onto the drive after formatting with another source, it Jun 11, 2018 · I have an old computer running Lubuntu, and I want to give it away. -f forces the write permissions if missing. Jan 17, 2010 · On Windows, I used the free program Eraser to wipe hard drives when I was finished with them. It involves preparing a hard drive to store data by creating a file system, which determines how data is organized and accessed. Jun 11, 2025 · Reformatting a hard drive is a crucial operation that can help you resolve various issues such as data corruption, prepare a drive for a new operating system, or wipe all existing data. 04. Jan 15, 2016 · To start from a clean state I need to reset the hard disk to an empty state from command line. May 8, 2012 · To make my Windows hard drive bootable again I had to boot with the Windows DVD and then go to Repair computer, Command, and then run bootrec /fixmbr and then bootrec /fixboot. I have 5 x 500GB drives I want to get rid of, so naturally, I want them wiped first. Here’s an example of the command with an explanation following: # shred -vfz -n Jul 25, 2010 · I am trying to get a dual boot with XP and Ubuntu. 10, but i want to remove it, format my hard drive and install windows xp, but when i try doing this from the windows installer it says that the hard drive can't be formated so i would like to do it from the ubuntu installer without installing it again. How can I securely erase the drive before sellin I have decided to switch to Windows. Please help me thanks. I have an old laptop, that I wish to rejuvenate. Dec 22, 2024 · 2. Could anybody help Jul 15, 2016 · Is there a way to completely nuke everything on a computer, including all OSs? I've been trying to fix a computer but I think at this point its time to cut my losses and reinstall. Table of Contents Aug 8, 2025 · Learn how to completely erase a hard drive on Linux using secure methods. I'd like to - Wipe my entire current hard drive entirely Re-install the OS from my USB drive Wha In this article you will learn how to securely wipe hard drive Linux, also how to securely delete files in Linux. If you have not already done so, you can log into Ubuntu Discourse using the same Ubuntu Jul 18, 2022 · I already had ubuntu on a 30 GB partition on my Dell N-5010 laptop, but I wanted to erase my hard drive and install Ubuntu as the only OS on my laptop. Edit To wipe a hdd, you need to boot a Live-Image of a Linux system Jun 27, 2023 · I need to remove all data from an hard disk where lubuntu 22. How do I prepare the hard drive to protect my personal data and get the hard drive in a good shape using an Ubuntu live cd? The Ubuntu live cd will do that for you, after selecting 'install ubuntu' choose 'erase entire disk and install ubuntu' and that will erase the entire disk and install ubuntu. How can I securely erase the drive before sellin Mar 14, 2022 · How to wipe a disk or partition with shred Suppose you are selling your disks or you need to erase your portable drive. Resetting Ubuntu does not work exactly like pressing a "Factory Reset" button you‘d […] I'm wondering how I would go about "wiping" a hard drive. This extended partition works as a Linux provides multiple commands for destroying files, but it's important to know how to wipe a Linux hard drive efficiently and securely. Step-by-step guide. How to wipe Hard Drive clean using dd command in Linux : If you want to quickly wipe everything from the disk, /dev/zero or simple This is an example for a HDD formatted to boot a linux system. -z writes zeros in the final pass. I can't get the bios to boot from CD and stays at hard drive boot priority. Two questions: Is this the same as overwriting the disk using dd? s May 25, 2013 · The only safe ways of wiping data are the ATA Secure Erase command (if implemented correctly), or physical destruction. Dec 27, 2023 · Have you given proper thought to thoroughly erasing files and drives before disposal? With modern high density storage, simply deleting data or formatting drives leaves information easily recoverable. My question is: When I install Ubuntu and choose to “Erase the Disk” from the installation option will Ubuntu erase the disk but still preserve GRUB or will be everything erased? Dec 27, 2023 · As an active Linux user, you likely have piles of USB sticks, SD cards, and external hard drives lying around. Apr 19, 2010 · Have you ever given or sold a PC to somebody else, but really wanted to completely wipe the hard drive first? Today we'll show you how to use an Ubuntu Live CD to get your personal information off your PC. In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll gain […] Jul 3, 2015 · Closed 10 years ago. Protect privacy before selling devices or prepare for encryption. Apr 21, 2025 · The Secure Erase command writes zeros to the user data portion of traditional hard drives or returns the cells to their original, factory state in solid state drives. How can I do a disk low level formatting in Ubuntu on an external hard disk so that any data recovery tools like test-disk or photorec cannot retrieve any data once formatted to ext4 or any file-system? Sep 8, 2013 · If you want to actually wipe the disk in such a way that the data is unrecoverable, follow the instructions found at the accepted answer here: How can I securely erase a hard drive? EXCERPT: sudo shred -v /dev/sdX shred will overwrite the data areas with random information so the original files and directories are not recoverable. Hi everyone, I am planning to wipe my hard drive completely (including Ubuntu). If you have not already done so, you can log into Ubuntu Discourse using the same Ubuntu Sep 7, 2011 · Ok i have got the ubuntu 11. Wipe all data safely with simple terminal commands. Follow the on-screen instructions. In Ubuntu, a popular Linux - based operating system, the process of reformatting a hard drive involves several steps and tools. 04 is installed. Run dd command to wipe hard drive. In the Ubuntu operating system, formatting a hard drive allows you to prepare it for use, change its file system, or wipe existing data. If you have not already done so, you can log into Ubuntu Discourse using the same Ubuntu Apr 8, 2011 · Will installing a Linux Operating System onto an old Windows laptop fully erase the contents of the hard drive? I show you guys how to securely erase a drive using a Linux utility called shred. Installed the wipe package from synaptic to wipe some hard drives. Note: This process will completely remove all data and partitions on the target drive. The transition is complete and this forum is now closed to all new posts. Then select the hard drive that you want to install Ubuntu onto and go to step 3. That should be sufficient. I tried doing this using shred and dd fr Have you ever felt the need to completely wipe your Ubuntu machine and revert it back to a clean, factory settings state? Perhaps some configuration changes led to system instability, or you just want to clear out old clutter and start fresh. 04 running in test mmode but i cannot install it because my hard drive is full only 450 mb free. So I formatted my disk using the Disk Utility and chose to overwrite the disk with zeroes. This is what I would like to do when it's wiped clean: Install Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit from system image. Method 3: Using Ubuntu’s Built-in Refresh Jan 27, 2016 · Wiping the disk is not necessary. This blog post will guide you through the fundamental concepts, usage methods Jul 24, 2015 · I want to sell my old SSD on EBay. Wipe entire hard drive. Nov 19, 2018 · My PC runs on Windows 10 (this is the only OS of the PC). Sometimes someone Jul 5, 2021 · Usually, Windows is stored in Drive:C. org), but if this is a company, or you need reports on wipes, or to wipe sas, nvme, or USB, you need the upgrade to Blancco Drive Eraser, you can set up a Raspberry Pi as a PXE server and just boot the box on the same network (Blancco Drive Eraser – Our Premier Data Erasure Solution). Feb 18, 2011 · Have been using my drive since 6. Brand-new & novice users would probably benefit from a little more info. Ideally if you wanna dualboot Windows you would start with a clean, minimal Windows install and add linux after. The user may decide to turn BitLocker off. First you need found correct disk path to hard drive which you want securely wipe, list hard drives in your system. As I mentioned I would need something that will wipe out a hard I am wondering how to erase my hard drive completely, Grub and all, because my hard drive is messed up. (desktop) (going to be Ubuntu TV) Install 4MLinux 64-bit (for maintenance) Mar 22, 2025 · How to Securely Wipe a PC Using ShredOS ShredOS runs on Linux under the hood and boots from a USB stick, as you cannot wipe your device's hard drive if you are booting from it. I just sold my Mac on ebay, now I've got the hard drive hooked up to my Ubuntu laptop and I'm wondering how to wipe it before I ship it. This article will provide you step-by-step guide for wiping a hdd clean. Before that, I want to make sure none of my data can be recovered from the hard drive. Erasing Ubuntu using a Linux Live USB/DVD This method allows you to erase Ubuntu from within a live Linux environment, offering more flexibility and control. Partitions are created when you create a filesystem on it. While installing Ubuntu it asks for the installation type, and I am a little bit confused. What should I do? I only need one pass (zero-fill the entire drive - no need for more passes). Jun 11, 2025 · Formatting a hard drive is a crucial task in managing storage devices. May 29, 2020 · Learn to securely erase data on Linux using dd, shred, and badblocks. It is not about running a wipe utility, the data don't have to be overwritten. You can use shred to wipe your drive using the command below: sudo shred -vfz /dev/sde Where, -v gives detailed output. In this guide, I‘ll outline 5 tools you can use to completely obliterate any trace of data from a drive on an Ubuntu system: I‘ll go into detail on how each method works and show clear examples of the exact commands needed to thoroughly wipe your hard drive. Most used partitions scheme is MBR. Will installing Ubuntu erase the data on my both disks, or only the Feb 2, 2022 · When I later start the PC it still loads GRUB but nothing happens then. It has a 1tb HDD right now but I would like to clear everything including OS and install an SSD as a boot drive. While convenient for storing and transferring data, these portable drives also risk exposing your sensitive files if lost or stolen. I want it to be blank just the way i bought it. Assuming the hard drive you want to erase is /dev/sdb You can easily erase with: cat /dev/zero > /dev/sdb This is "good enough" for most cases but could theoretically be recoverable because HDs retain some residual magnetic evidence of their former data. […] Nov 22, 2023 · In it, I'll show you how I completely initialize a hard drive so I can re-use it somewhere else (like Ceph) that doesn't like drives with partition information! First, a warning: this blog post does not show how to zero a hard drive, or secure erase. Jul 1, 2016 · To securely erase the contents of the disk, leaving your computer without any trace of Ubuntu or your files, boot from a Linux / Ubuntu live DVD / USB, and run sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=4M which will securely erase data. It can be used to wipe a PC that runs any operating system (including all versions of Windows and Linux). Make sure that /dev/sda is the main hard drive in the computer - you can check with lsblk. How do I remove Ubuntu, wipe hard drive and Mac Ask Question Asked 12 years, 7 months ago Modified 7 years, 5 months ago How can I reliably wipe or zero fill an entire hard drive? I want to move an old 2TB HDD from my old build to a new one, but I would like to wipe it clean before installing it in a new build. Command: shred -vzn Video command: Ubuntu Forums > The Ubuntu Forum Community > Ubuntu Official Flavours Support > New to Ubuntu > [ubuntu] Wipe hard drive PDA View Full Version : [ubuntu] Wipe hard drive dannylortz September 6th, 2011, 11:20 AM Alternatively, you could connect your hard drive to another PC running Linux, although using a Linux live environment prevents you from accidentally wiping the wrong drive. Apr 17, 2022 · Normally we’d use dd to clean wipe a hard drive as follows after opening a terminal window for a hard disk or USB drive accessible as /dev/sdb : $ sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdb status=progress <enter> Another command to do a secure wipe of /dev/sdb is scrub that can be used as follows: $ sudo scrub -p dod /dev/sdb <enter> Note that the above commands completely wipe data and if run by . This question is quite If you would like Ubuntu to be the only operating system on your hard drive, select Erase disk and install Ubuntu. 04 64-bit. This blog post will provide you with a detailed overview of the fundamental concepts, usage methods, common practices, and best practices for formatting a hard drive in Ubuntu. I run the same bunch of commands over and over so I figured I'd drop them here for easy access. Oct 11, 2012 · 2 First, use a command line program called shred to wipe everything from your hard drive. You don’t need to actually erase NVME Easiest way to wipe entire drive including OS? Hi all! I have an old pc that I’ll be repurposing as a server. The Ubuntu installer can then erase the entire contents of the hard drive and create its own structure (partitions and data). Reboot: Once installation is complete, restart your system into a fresh Ubuntu environment. " If you Dec 13, 2019 · Formatting your hard drive doesn't wipe the data within. sudo wipe -q /dev/sde Okay to WIPE 1 special file? (Yes/No) Yes Wiping /dev/sde, pass 0 in quick mode [ 190004 / 30524162] ETA 1w 5d What - its going to take 12 days to wipe one 500GB disk? So that's 60 days for all five? I rather think that Sep 14, 2016 · First Let's remove some confusions Every hard drive needs one or more partitions to be useful. Allow me to introduce you to the Linux shred command – your top defense against data coming back to haunt you. I'm happily using Ubuntu but I'm wondering if there's a way to do a fresh install of just Ubuntu and wipe the hard drive completely with this unique setup where Ubuntu is attached to Windows but I can't get into Windows? Jun 7, 2021 · as I am new Linux user I don't really know yet where's path to my disk, so therefore also I don't know how to wipe out data from it. May 23, 2025 · This blog post will walk you through the fundamental concepts, usage methods, common practices, and best practices for wiping a hard disk in Ubuntu. I have installed Windows 8 on my laptop and i want to completely "delete" my HDD. The other option is to boot the ubuntu live disc, select 'try ubuntu' and then open 'disc utility' and format / partition the drive. Today is my last day at a job and I want to wipe the hard drive before I leave. This will delete all data on the entire disk so use with caution! Mar 6, 2024 · Learn how to easily delete partitions in Linux using the powerful fdisk utility. It doesn't need to be insanely randomized or anything, just delete the os and most data. Jun 14, 2023 · The GNOME Disks utility is a graphical frontend to udisks and the default GUI program for managing disks and partitions on Ubuntu. Wiping the entire disk This will overwrite all partitions, master boot records, and data. Hello, Unregistered. 6 I have ubuntu 11. Mar 26, 2019 · I am brand new to this and just need to completely wipe the hdd for a fresh Ubuntu install. If your device currently has another operating system installed, you will receive additional options to install Ubuntu alongside that OS rather than replacing it. When you delete a file in Windows, Ubuntu, or any other operating system, it doesn't actually destroy the data stored on your hard drive, it just marks that data as "deleted. For securely erase hard drive or files we will use scrub utility. I'd rather not have to downl Wipe the drive, fresh partition gpt table is nice. In MBR, you can have only 4 partitions in a disk. There are various scenarios where you might need to erase a disk in Ubuntu, such as preparing a disk for reuse, selling or donating a device, or ensuring sensitive data is completely removed. biz Aug 27, 2022 · This guide shows you how to securely and reliably delete data from your hard disk using three Linux tools: shred, wipe, and dd. This is a destructive operation, with no option to recover any Windows data. Nothing more. Wipe everything off a removable disk If you have a removable disk, like a USB memory stick or an external hard disk, you may sometimes wish to completely remove all of its files and folders. I was thinking to boot from an Ubuntu liveUSB image and, from a terminal, use the command: # the Hard Disk is the devic Before selling it I would like to make sure that all my old data is permantly wiped off the hard drive, what would be the easiest way to do this? Do I have to make a bootable Ubuntu USB disk again and reinstall Ubuntu, or is it possible to format the HDD without losing the OS? Jul 18, 2018 · 0 So I have dual booted ubuntu 16 and windows 10 on a laptop, and I want to completely wipe both of those operating systems and install ubuntu 17. I would like to completely remove ubuntu, and all the other files on my computer. I need to completely wipe the hard drive as well as reformat it and install a new Operating System. See full list on cyberciti. So I used the "erase disk" option to have Ubuntu partition my hard disk and install the OS. What is the most efficient way to do this? Dec 6, 2021 · After using nwipe, you can rest assured that when you recycle your hard drive, no data will be made available to anyone else. Mar 15, 2016 · What I need is to 100% clear and un-format a 3TB drive. The computer has no othe OS so i have no idead how to format c: Ubuntu doesnt even display the hard drive?? any ideas Jul 2, 2018 · How can I quickly wipe a disk (filesystem/partitions) without overwriting all content with random data? For example shred could accomplish what I want but takes to Jan 15, 2020 · Alternatively, you could connect your hard drive to another PC running Linux, although using a Linux live environment prevents you from accidentally wiping the wrong drive. (first and primary) Install Ubuntu 12. The live cd is mounted and I'm in the terminal window. I have decided to move to Ubuntu, and no longer Mar 16, 2016 · Before proceeding to erase Ubuntu, make a backup copy of all important personal files on a removable device (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, key USB , floppy disk, external hard drive), a space on a storage server (if you have one) or a partition of another operating system (s ‘there is one available). Jun 5, 2021 · I have a machine with a single hard drive and I have an Ubuntu ISO installed on a USB thumb drive. Just boot using a LiveCD/LiveUSB and (re-)install Ubuntu. Open the Disks utility and select the device to format from the left. Nov 25, 2024 · Darik’s Boot and Nuke is perfect for spinning drives (https://dban. Complete guide covers mkfs, dd, and secure wiping methods for safe Linux hard disk format operations. Whichever method you choose, you can be sure that the information you remove will be nearly impossible to recover. I have a live boot on a flash drive. This blog post will walk you through the fundamental concepts, usage methods, common practices, and best practices of formatting a hard drive in Ubuntu. These are called Primary partition. I have found three command line tools: shred, wipe and dd. Learn how to format disk in Linux using command-line tools. To do this, create a Live USB Ubuntu drive that you can use to boot the computer from. You can wipe the first mibibyte in a safe way with mkusb. Use the sudo command as well (sudo dd) Filling the disk with all zeros (This may take a while, as it is making every bit of data 0) : dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M #replace X with the target drive letter. Oct 18, 2021 · One of the best ways to keep your data secure is by only writing data to an encrypted hard drive. If you want to install Ubuntu over your entire hard drive, click Erase disk and install Ubuntu. Learn how Linux shred and dd commands can help ensure data is erased. Can I just boot into my live boot, use the partition manager to delete all the partitions, merge all the partitions, and install ubuntu like that? May 30, 2018 · If you wipe the first mibibyte, overwrite it with zeros, the data on the [rest of] the drive does not make any difference, and you can use any tool for this purpose. I looked for a while for something similar for Ubuntu Linux but couldn’t find any programs like Eraser. Follow this step-by-step guide for quick and effective results. Dec 17, 2013 · I'm planning on selling a USB external hard drive that currently contains an old Ubuntu installation with stored passwords and banking information. That's a slightly different process. It seems kind of random what people recommend. You can do this by formatting the disk — this deletes all of the files on the disk and leaves it empty. Turns out, however, that this functionality is built into the operating system, though it is command-line only. 04 LTS, but I have two drives: one SSD, one hard drive. Here's how you can completely wipe your hard drive in Linux, making data retrieval difficult I am planning on selling my laptop. If I choose 'Erase disk and install Ubuntu, will my PC's all my hard drive be formatted, including files stored in the Windows OS, which is not a VM, or VMs see only the storage allocated for Jun 11, 2025 · Formatting a hard drive is a crucial operation in managing storage space on your Ubuntu system. 'wipe' did not work but gparted seems to be there. During installation, you can reformat the whole disk. Also see How can I reliably erase all information on a hard drive? Possible Duplicate: How can I securely erase a USB hard drive? How to delete file(s) in secure manner? I am looking for software/script/whatever that can completely destroy data on hard drive How should I proceed? Just booting up Ubuntu Live DVD and choosing "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" will delete/format all my partitions and install a fresh Ubuntu? TL;DR: I want to start from fresh and wipe all my partitions table (format and delete them) to install Ubuntu 16. This is an update about the transition of the forums to Ubuntu Discourse. Download a Linux distribution ISO (like Ubuntu itself, or Mint) and create a bootable USB drive or burn it to a DVD. If you need more than 4 partitions, You can make one of the 4 as Extended partition. Aug 27, 2022 · This guide shows you how to securely and reliably delete data from your hard disk using three Linux tools: shred, wipe, and dd. shred will overwrite your personal data with random numbers so that the original data is not recoverable. If you want to wipe the disk before reinstalling, you can write zeros across the complete disk using the LiveCD/LiveUSB, a terminal, and the dd command. A more secure Oct 25, 2014 · I need to wipe all data of a number of hard drives, from Ubuntu Linux. Dec 12, 2014 · I'd be much more comfortable with more of a warning than " (Slow)" when I'm about to irreversibly wipe a drive, and I know what I'm doing (usually). Just in case you can't see the command I run in the terminal: sudo fdisk -l - to list the available drives How to wipe a hard drive using the shred command on a linux workstation. My question is if I choose the Erase disk and install Ubuntu/ubuntu-derivatives option, will it erase the data on the other drives such as Drive:D/Drive:E, or will it just erase the drives where windows/any other OS is installed and keeping the data on other drives safe ? Jun 13, 2019 · How can I securely erase a hard drive? I'm planning on selling a USB external hard drive that currently contains an old Ubuntu installation with stored passwords and banking information. Aug 6, 2021 · I already have Windows 10 installed and want to replace it with Ubuntu 20. Jun 11, 2025 · In the digital age, data security and disk management are of utmost importance. If you are wiping your hard drive for security, you should populate it with random data rather Sep 30, 2020 · In this step-by-step tutorial you will learn how to delete partition in Linux systems by using fdisk command-line utility. How do I do this? I basically want to wipe my computer clean. Mar 6, 2025 · Securely wiping data from computer storage takes special planning and tools. So XP will not run and I can't load DBAN. Anyone needing support for Ubuntu or the official flavours should seek help at Ubuntu Discourse. 04 often just updating, if I want to clean my drive and start again,which is best method to carry this out. Warning: This will destroy all data on the drive. A help and support forum for Ubuntu Linux. Because i want to install Linux on a blank HDD. Click the Install Now button to initiate the installation. How can I do this? Thanks. odspjalm huxqg jwmvylf wjrsv zpf qxfgnqrp tkxvey qbdg rpwj ahdege