How to wipe a USB hard drive

Solution 1:

If you download the latest Beta Version of DBAN, it states that it supports USB.

I have tested it and it is a good beta build - it works fine.... Just one reported bug when you unplug a USB drive mid-wipe, but who would do that!

Solution 2:

Boot up an Ubuntu live CD, open up the partition editor, and use the dropdown box in the upper right to find the drive with the correct size and contents to be your UBS disk (make sure you get this right, or you could end up wiping the wrong drive!). Make a note of the drive name (it should be something like "/dev/sdX", where X is any letter), open up a terminal, and run:

dd if=/dev/urandom of=[drive]

and then

dd if=/dev/zero of=[drive]

Where [drive] is the name you made a note of.

This will write random bits to the drive and then fill it with zeros. When you are done, you can use the partition editor again to verify that the disk has been wiped.

Solution 3:

If you're running Windows 2000 or better there is a built-in command line utility that overwites deleted data making it unrecoverable.

cipher /w:driveletter:\foldername

more detailed information

Solution 4:

I'm assuming you're using Windows. Try Eraser. From the home page:

• It works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.
  • Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000 can still be used with version 5.7!
• It works with any drive that works with Windows
• Secure drive erasure methods are supported out of the box
• Erases files, folders and their previous deleted counterparts
• Works with an extremely customisable Scheduler