Hi
I have Sentinel and I need to blank erase one 8TB hard drive (just recovered after data loss) to make it like new. I am contemplating using DBAN. Is Sentinel WRITE test is the same in wiping hard drive, or it is not complete wipe?
I want to use this hard drive for backup later, and, if any more data loss occur, I want to have recovery only for recent files, not all previous versions?
Also, if I increase number of writes, would this increase symmetrically time to write, example, 1 write testis about 8 hours, so if I double write tests it would take 16 hours and so on?
Please advise.
Make hard drive blank
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hdsentinel
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Re: Make hard drive blank
Yes, I can confirm that the Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write test is a complete wipe, which overwrites all sectors on the hard disk (or SSD, flash drive or any other device).
The Write test clears all files, folders, partitions, partition meta-data, master boot record, MFTs and so. It clears all partitions also which are not readable/accessible under Windows (for example Linux partitions) too of course.
The data recovery after this procedure is not possible - as all sectors overwritten, cleared completely.
Yes, if you increase the number of overwrite passes, then the amount of time required will increase exactly as you wrote: if you select overwrite passes = 2, then the total time required will be doubled and so.
If you want to be sure, you may use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write+Read test too. This (after the clearing) adds an extra read and verify step which verifies that all sectors really overwritten (cleared).
If you prefer more serious data destruction, I recommend to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface function which performs multiple overwrite passes with special initialization patterns and then fill with zeroes - and then read back and verify the results, to make sure all sectors completely wiped. This is industry / government standard wipe function.
During the procedure, you may click on the disk surface map to inspect the raw contents of any sector, just to verify before/after too.
And during the wipe, you can use the computer for any other purpose - even to diagnose / test other hard disk too with different surface test function.
The Write test clears all files, folders, partitions, partition meta-data, master boot record, MFTs and so. It clears all partitions also which are not readable/accessible under Windows (for example Linux partitions) too of course.
The data recovery after this procedure is not possible - as all sectors overwritten, cleared completely.
Yes, if you increase the number of overwrite passes, then the amount of time required will increase exactly as you wrote: if you select overwrite passes = 2, then the total time required will be doubled and so.
If you want to be sure, you may use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Write+Read test too. This (after the clearing) adds an extra read and verify step which verifies that all sectors really overwritten (cleared).
If you prefer more serious data destruction, I recommend to use Disk menu -> Surface test -> Reinitialise disk surface function which performs multiple overwrite passes with special initialization patterns and then fill with zeroes - and then read back and verify the results, to make sure all sectors completely wiped. This is industry / government standard wipe function.
During the procedure, you may click on the disk surface map to inspect the raw contents of any sector, just to verify before/after too.
And during the wipe, you can use the computer for any other purpose - even to diagnose / test other hard disk too with different surface test function.