A tape's not a block device, either.
Glen
On Wednesday 05 June 2002 04:29 pm, you wrote:
> 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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