Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Don't miss a thing. Post your questions and discussion about other uncategorized NAS features here.
Post Reply
Ma358
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 11:02 pm

Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by Ma358 »

Hi, all.

I'm looking to sell the old HDDs that are in my TS-431, but I want to make sure that the new owner cannot retrieve information from it.

I know I can go out and buy an external inclosure, put the drives in it, and then use Disk Utility (I'm on a Mac) to do a secure erase.

Is there a way that I can do the same thing without having to buy anything else? Disk Utility will not recognize network drives and I don't see any options in the QNAP web access page. My tech knowledge is pretty basic, so I might need to be walked through more complex solutions.

Thanks!

edit: I did a lot of searching both on these and other forums and websites before posting this.
User avatar
pwilson
Guru
Posts: 22533
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:20 am
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada (UTC-08:00)

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by pwilson »

Ma358 wrote:Hi, all.

I'm looking to sell the old HDDs that are in my TS-431, but I want to make sure that the new owner cannot retrieve information from it.

I know I can go out and buy an external inclosure, put the drives in it, and then use Disk Utility (I'm on a Mac) to do a secure erase.

Is there a way that I can do the same thing without having to buy anything else? Disk Utility will not recognize network drives and I don't see any options in the QNAP web access page. My tech knowledge is pretty basic, so I might need to be walked through more complex solutions.

Thanks!
You can approximate this on the NAS itelf, by overwriting every sector on each drive with random data:

Code: Select all

for i in a b c d ; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sd$i bs=4096 ; done


WARNING: This command will DESTROY all the data on all 4 drives. No confirmation.

Patrick M. Wilson
Victoria, BC Canada
QNAP TS-470 Pro w/ 4 * Western Digital WD30EFRX WD Reds (RAID5) - - Single 8.1TB Storage Pool FW: QTS 4.2.0 Build 20151023 - Kali Linux v1.06 (64bit)
Forums: View My Profile - Search My Posts - View My Photo - View My Location - Top Community Posters
QNAP: Turbo NAS User Manual - QNAP Wiki - QNAP Tutorials - QNAP FAQs

Please review: When you're asking a question, please include the following.
Ma358
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 11:02 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by Ma358 »

Thanks for the quick reply.

That sounds like what I am looking for. I've already copied all of the data onto my local drive and a secondary external drive, so data loss isn't a concern.

The problem is that I don't know where to enter that code to get it going.

edit: did some looking around. Found telnet access settings. I logged into it using Terminal. I haven't entered the code yet, but I'm thinking that should be where I do it, yeah?
User avatar
pwilson
Guru
Posts: 22533
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:20 am
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada (UTC-08:00)

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by pwilson »

Ma358 wrote:Thanks for the quick reply.

That sounds like what I am looking for. I've already copied all of the data onto my local drive and a secondary external drive, so data loss isn't a concern.

The problem is that I don't know where to enter that code to get it going.

edit: did some looking around. Found telnet access settings. I logged into it using Terminal. I haven't entered the code yet, but I'm thinking that should be where I do it, yeah?
I never use Telnet personally. (It's insecure - cleartext passwords :roll: ). I prefer to use SSH for this task here. (This won't matter in this instance, as you are wiping the NAS anyway).

This said, yes you are in the right place. My command needs to be entered in at the command line of the NAS, so yes, you need to use either Telnet or SSH to do this. (It isn't a mistake that Telnet is disabled by default, while SSH is enabled by default).

You need to login as "admin" to gain access.

Patrick M. Wilson
Victoria, BC Canada
QNAP TS-470 Pro w/ 4 * Western Digital WD30EFRX WD Reds (RAID5) - - Single 8.1TB Storage Pool FW: QTS 4.2.0 Build 20151023 - Kali Linux v1.06 (64bit)
Forums: View My Profile - Search My Posts - View My Photo - View My Location - Top Community Posters
QNAP: Turbo NAS User Manual - QNAP Wiki - QNAP Tutorials - QNAP FAQs

Please review: When you're asking a question, please include the following.
Ma358
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 11:02 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by Ma358 »

Patrick, thank you for all your help.

I really appreciate it!
User avatar
tariqnisarahmed
Starting out
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by tariqnisarahmed »

pwilson wrote:
Ma358 wrote:...Is there a way that I can do the same thing without having to buy anything else? Disk Utility will not recognize network drives and I don't see any options in the QNAP web access page. My tech knowledge is pretty basic, so I might need to be walked through more complex solutions.

Thanks!
You can approximate this on the NAS itelf, by overwriting every sector on each drive with random data:

Code: Select all

for i in a b c d ; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sd$i bs=4096 ; done


WARNING: This command will DESTROY all the data on all 4 drives. No confirmation.
Another great post of the late Mr. Wilson's that has helped me out. I am running an SSH session using PuTTY to my QNAP TVS-463. It has 2 6TB drives in place set up in Raid 1. Have already run the command, but for future reference, would it be necessary for me to wipe both -- since the second drive would copy the first? Or is it necessary to run the command on both drives? And in any case, how long do you think I will have to wait until I see a result in PuTTY? (Right now I just have a green square below the command I entered. Guessing it won't change till the job is done.)
QNAP 1-1-2016 drive wiping command q.PNG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
schumaku
Guru
Posts: 43579
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:41 pm
Location: Kloten (Zurich), Switzerland -- Skype: schumaku
Contact:

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by schumaku »

Note: Be careful with "blindly" using a b c d ... newer NAS models make use of the n+1 device for the firmware - so check for the Flash device and avoid dd'ing it:

[~] # hal_app --get_boot_pd port_id=0
/dev/sde
User avatar
tariqnisarahmed
Starting out
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by tariqnisarahmed »

Thanks, Schumaku! I will keep that in mind for next time. :) This time around, I was preparing to return the TVS-463 and the Reds because Amazon was willing to take them back, minus a small percentage. I am upgrading to a TVS-871, so please do wish me luck with the new system. Thanks again!
vincentcox
Starting out
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:31 am

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by vincentcox »

Just a quick check, are these commands still valid for today? I have a one bay NAS and I need to wipe them too
samb375
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:19 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by samb375 »

I plan to sell my old TS-269 Pro w/ 2x WD 6TB Reds, and I'm keen to securely wipe all my data? Are these commands still valid for today QTS 4.3.3 i.e. a b? Please provide all code. Thanks.
samb375
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:19 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by samb375 »

Also, if QNAP provides an app/utility to assist with this task, please let me know.
samb375
New here
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 6:19 pm

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by samb375 »

Is the below code correct for my TS-269 Pro?

Code: Select all

for i in a b ; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sd$i bs=4096 ; done
User avatar
dolbyman
Guru
Posts: 35021
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2011 2:11 am
Location: Vancouver BC , Canada

Re: Selling My Old HDDs (secure delete question)

Post by dolbyman »

just make sure you do not erase your DOM
Post Reply

Return to “Miscellaneous”