No need to get high-tech, park 'em next to a large magnet for a few seconds.
Ed.
Ben Ostrowsky wrote:
> I've got several dozen DDS tapes that I'd like to throw out. Before I
> do that, however, I'd like to make it non-trivial to read the data
> currently on them.
>
> I can't seem to figure out bcwipe; it works on files and block devices.
> I'm not sure what a block device is, but dmesg says "Attached scsi tape
> st0 at scsi1, channel 0, id 6, lun 0".
>
> [root@snoopy /tmp]# bcwipe -v -b /dev/st0
> Wipe /dev/st0 (y/[n]/a)?y
> Wiping device /dev/st0
> Writing to /dev/st0: Input/output error
>
> Perhaps it's not a block device:
>
> crw-rw---- 1 root disk 9, 0 Mar 23 2001 /dev/st0
>
> Any ideas how I can wipe these tapes? I don't have easy access to an
> MRI or a mile of copper wire, and I'd rather not trust the demagnetizer
> at the library -- it's not designed for this.
>
> I've been told that writing from /dev/urandom until the tape fills up
> would do the trick, but I don't even know how to do that!
>
> Haaaaalp!
>
> Ben
>
>
>
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