Wipe data from SSD/HDD

Step 1: Identify the Drive Type

Run:

lsblk -d -o name,rota

ROTA 1 → HDD (spinning disk)

ROTA 0 → SSD



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If It's an SSD

Use blkdiscard + Secure Erase (if supported)

1. Fast erase with blkdiscard:

sudo blkdiscard /dev/sdX

2. Secure erase (factory-level wipe):

Check if supported:

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdX | grep -i security

If it supports secure erase:

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass password /dev/sdX
sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase password /dev/sdX

Replace password with anything (you’ll reuse it right after). This triggers a built-in secure erase.


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If It's an HDD (spinning disk)

Overwrite multiple times (DoD-style):

sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdX bs=1M status=progress

Overwrites with random data — much harder to recover than zeros.

You can do multiple passes if paranoid.


For 3-pass:

for i in {1..3}; do sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdX bs=1M status=progress; done


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Final Step: Remove Partition Table

(Optional but adds obscurity):

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=512 count=1


Use shred:

sudo shred -v -n 3 -z /dev/sdX

-n 3: 3 passes of random data

-z: final pass with zeros