Does DBAN work with external HDs or flash drives?

[Ken90630]

Could I use DBAN to wipe an external hard drive (USB)? If so, is there a point in the setup process to choose the drive to be wiped? I've always just used it on a single internal C Drive and don't remember any such choice (then again, I've never had an external drive connected at that point either).

I have a Seagate external HD I'd like to wipe for a friend and I don't wanna accidentally nuke her hard drive in the process.

NOTE: I looked on the DBAN site but couldn't find an answer. Someone did say something about a newer beta version having that capability, but the info was incomplete.

Edited for grammar

 

[seemingly random]

According to the doc at darik's source forge site, dban can be installed to a bootable floppy or usb key so so there's a chance it understands usb devices. A very safe way to test is to simply disconnect the power and data cables from any hard drives in the pc before it is powered up and booted from the dban media. The hard drive won't need to be removed. I've never used dban but it seems inconceivable that there's no provision to select the particular device to nuke. Try it and report back.

 

[redbeard1]

It usually will read an external drive.

The latest build of dban is a supposed beta from 2007. It sees more sata drives and had better detection of external devices

 

[Ken90630]

Thanks, guys. That's a good idea about disconnecting the HDs first. I will try it and report back (prolly in a few days).

 

[redbeard1]

Dban beta

 

[seemingly random]

Ken,
Why are you messing with dban? Doesn't seagate have a utility to wipe one of their own usb hard drives? If not, try wd's utility.

 

[Ken90630]

I have no idea. That never occurred to me. I didn't know the HD mfgrs made disk wiping utilities. I'll check into it though.

 

[seemingly random]

Some utilities call it 'zeroing' the drive. Once is enough. Depending on what you're after, zeroing just the beginning and end of the drive might be sufficient.

A 'newer' sata hard drive takes about an hour/250gb.