I need to have 60 PCs disposed of in a week. What is the fastest set-up for erasing the disks before I turn them in? I plan on using CBL Data Shredder for software to earse each disk.
This one?<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBL_Data_Shredder" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBL_Data_Shredder</a><p>From 2007, still senselessly using unneded algorithms/methods.<p>Assuming that they are recent enough disks (like built in the last - say - 20 years) all you need is to initiate an ATA Secure Erase, i.e. essentially use hdparm:<p><a href="https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase" rel="nofollow">https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase</a><p>or any small live distro making use of it, a suggested one is RIP Linux (now abandoned, but usually just good enough):
<a href="https://tinyapps.org/docs/wipe_drives_hdparm.html" rel="nofollow">https://tinyapps.org/docs/wipe_drives_hdparm.html</a>
<a href="https://archiveos.org/rip/" rel="nofollow">https://archiveos.org/rip/</a><p>Initiating the ATA command will be faster than any 00 or random pattern writing tool such as dd (which is however, single pass, good enough according to NIST):<p><a href="https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-88r1.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.S...</a><p>(page 32)
Where I work, they take out the drives and use a drill press to run three holes through each one. (That's not quite the same as "erasing", because you clearly do not wind up with a usable disk drive at the end...)