Random hard drive formatting question.

[Roark]

So about 7 years ago I interned in an IT department. If we got in trouble, or had a slow day, interns were made to format hard drives. We had 1 junky computer dedicated to the task, and had to format each drive 1 at a time.

My question: is there currently any way to effectively format multiple drives at the same time?

I don't really need to format any drives, though I have 4-5 laying around that I don't use. It was just a fit of nostalgia that made me wonder if technology had advanced enough to lift the burden of delinquent interns.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Use GParted, man. All you'll ever need. you can do many things at once, just need to press apply. It does it all. Guide from KSoD in my sig

 

[Roark]

Wow, that is awesome. Really wish I had had this back in the day.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Glad your happy, Roark! Guess you haven't been around when KSoD was in here more. He would be suggesting GParted left and right.

 

[Roark]

I currently use DBAN, I like it for single drive formatting.
But next time I need to mess around with my hard drive I'm certainly going to check this one out, many more options.

 

[carnageX]

DBAN != GParted. They're different.

DBAN zero's out the entire drive several times after formatting it.

GParted just runs a full format on the drive, but you can still have the possibility of data retrieval.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Well, plus, do more at once.

 

[carnageX]

Well, plus, do more at once.

Yes, but my point was that if he's using DBAN at work, it might be for data security purposes (zero'ing out the drive multiple times to make it more difficult for data to be retrieved from the drive).

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

A zero wipe basically does nothing, and it's useless to do multiple 0 writes at one time, always use more advanced wipes for security purposes. I know a company, that requires 250 passes using Gutman (Thinks thats the name) and DOD method before they physically crush the drive. o.0

 

[Roark]

This isn't for work. I was just reminiscing about the torture that was formatting drives 1 at a time back when I was an intern, and wanted to know if there was some way to hook up 4+ drives to a computer and format them all at the same time. Purely out of curiosity.

I use DBAN when I get a virus because I like killing mosquitoes with bazookas, whats the point of having a bazooka if you're not going to use it.