Questions tagged [shredding]

Shred is a GNU tool, which is available by default on Ubuntu. It overwrites files content with random data.

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I need a zenity progress bar using the output of shred

I want to use the output of shred to make a progress bar with zenity. My shred command looks like this. sudo shred -vfn 1 /dev/sda I am new to Linux. So I probably miss an obvious solution.
BlackRed's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
362 views

Recovering LUKS partition with shred disk

I have Ubuntu 18.04 LTS encrypted on my SSD and I ran the command: sudo shred -vfn 1 /dev/sda and have overwritten 8-10 GB I guess. Furthermore, my computer could not load the password input window ...
dromey's user avatar
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Software-shredding a disk with bad sectors

I have my own company and when I take some hardware from customers, I always offer to shred the data on their drives and drill holes if not possible (in general for free, to get hardware for repairs ...
Taco's user avatar
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Fastest and effective way to make data unrecoverable on a 1TB external USB drive [duplicate]

I have a 1TB USB external drive that I need to return for warranty and need a fast way to hide my data in case anyone tried to recover data from it! I know about dd, shred etc... but I'm afraid (I'm ...
Frank's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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How to delete recoverable files?

I see a lot of posts about how to recover deleted files. But I'm asking about how to make sure that deleted files are un-recoverable. On an HDD and/or SSD. Sometimes we end up doing a delete instead ...
Nav's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
8k views

How to securely delete/wipe out a hard disk so it's hard to recover data?

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. As I mentioned I would need something that will wipe out a hard ...
str1ng's user avatar
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0 answers
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How delete a folder when certain password is entered

I want to remove a folder (or write on it by shred) when a specific password is entered. I don't want to use an encrypted OS like LUKS as this link says, or destroy the whole drive as lots of people ...
Mohammad Kholghi's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Halt the 'shred' command in bash script if it encounters errors

I have a workstation that we have set up to sanitize multiple hard drives. I run a script that detects the hard drives and then runs the 'shred' command on each one. The problem is, if any of the ...
Knightshift's user avatar
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0 answers
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Ubuntu crash after shred command disk

I have a dual boot ubuntu 19.10 with windows 10 and erased hdd disk for windows. I also tried to erase ssd disk with Ubuntu OS on it using shred but it crashed midway. Now I cannot boot into ubuntu it ...
Hefe's user avatar
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Does Purge Trash and Temporary Files, in Settings/Privacy, leave the trash and temp files on my hard drive or are they destroyed?

I'm wondering if Purge Trash and Temporary Files, found in Settings/Privacy, is a secure method for managing unwanted files, or I need to stay with a file shredder like Bleach Bit. Thanks for any ...
Charles's user avatar
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Error from using shred on drive [duplicate]

I used shred to erase my HDD but after leaving for a few hours and then returning, I found the screen was filled with "Error failed to write to entry ignoring read only file system". I restarted my ...
cocopper's user avatar
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1 answer
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shred command all disks [duplicate]

I have a couple of computers that have multiple drives in them. I have Ubuntu on a USB drive that and right now using the shred option I need to manually run the shred command for each HDD/SSD myself. ...
Klaas Idjdk's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
91 views

Shrink tool vs SHIFT+Del on SSD

Since we all know the general rule about random writing on SSD disks, I was wondering if shred command makes any sense on Ubuntu running on an SSD disk. If shred reports fake result that it has ...
ubuntico's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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is it possible to change the trashcan to use the shred function?

I know that the trashcan on Ubunutu Mate desktop performs a simple delete process, where one could theoretically recover the files after deletion. Is there an option to change that default ...
j0h's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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Using Shred to remove files on SSD - will this affect the lifespan of the disk? [duplicate]

I always remove files from my machine using sudo rm -rf file, and today I found that shred does a better job in terms of preventing files from being recovered later. My question is: I have an SSD only ...
ryoishikawa74's user avatar
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1 answer
663 views

Which partitions and in what order should I shred

I am selling my old laptop and I do not want my data to be recoverable with recovery tools. I found this post How to wipe a hard disk completely so that no data recovery tools can retrieve anything? ...
Karim Mtl's user avatar
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How to create increamental database on mysql

I configured a LAMP server on ubuntu 14.04 now earlier I had a single hard disk with 4 TB storage capacity. And so all the database got stored on /var/lib/mysql/ so now the storage is coming to its ...
J. white's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
2k views

How can I shred all disks but /dev/sda and log the output to a file?

I'm trying to make one command that will take all drives that are not sda and run shred on them and dump the output to a log file. So far I have find /dev/ -name "sd?" -not -name "sda" -exec [shred -...
Ben Stumpf's user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
23k views

How to securely wipe files from SSD drive?

When trying to securely wipe SSDs, we have several problems: SSDs wear out after a limited amount of erase cycles SSDs have a controller that dynamically maps LBAs (logical block addresses used by ...
Byte Commander's user avatar
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Bleachbit disk space reducing

Before I ask, let me say that I understand how this works, so the fact that I have 0 bytes free doesn't surprise me, as I shut down the computer while Bleachbit was doing its thing. But now I want to ...
Samuel Shifterovich's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
4k views

shred multiple hard drives

I have a bunch of disks needing shredding. I also have 6 ports for hard drives on my PC. Shred, even running with brief options takes a while. I read the manpage for shred, but I saw no way to shred ...
j0h's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
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Force all deletes to be secure

I have setup an Ubuntu Server for my university project. Aside from full disk encryption I also intend to use Dafturn Ofris (a Linux deepfreeze) to make file recovery difficult or for any forensics ...
k1308517's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Does dd or shred do any harm to the physical media of a hard disk?

Does dd or shred commands only overwrite the data and the filesystem or do they change or modify the physical media of the hard disk? Because I know that I can format a hard disk millions of times ...
Mudit Kapil's user avatar
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14 votes
1 answer
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Disabling Journaling in Ubuntu 14.04?

I installed Xubuntu (sometimes running Cinnamon, but I digress) and would like to disable journaling in order to make file-shredding the ext4 system partition more effective (non-system/app data is on ...
Utnubu's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
6k views

Is there a way to add shred to right-click menu?

BleachBit lets you shred either folders or files if you use the menu from within the program but is it possible to add a shred option to the menu when you right click on a file or folder that you may ...
gman's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
175 views

Application integration with Unity launcher

I like to integrate a application (a digital shredder, a interface for shred command) to allow drag-and-drop files from Nautilus to launcher icon and then open the program and fill the file path field....
user222057's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

not what I expected from shred - help to interpret output

I have a windoz xp disk that got infected by a virus, a particularly nasty one that hides in a gazillion places and 'activates' on many actions including plugging in any usb device, file writes, etc. ...
three_jeeps's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
13k views

GUI program to shred or wipe files with options to make sure they are unrecoverable?

I have a quick question about file shredding. Is there any application with graphical interface capable of shredding files and folders? I know bleachbit has that feature but there are no options or ...
Neptunno's user avatar
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31 votes
8 answers
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How to shred a folder?

I want a command to shred completely the contents of a folder/directory (which may be inside folders/directories). Also please explain the command.
Ashu's user avatar
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