Dc3dd is truly an impressive tool, not only can it be used to image a drive but also to wipe it. Previously, I made extensive use of DBAN for erasing data from drives until I came across a problem where DBAN could not see them. Now I use dc3dd, below are the three available options that that users can choose for how the drive will be overwritten.

• Overwrite using zeroes, this is the basic and simplest form you can use for wiping a drive:

  dc3dd wipe=/dev/sde 

• Overwrite using HEX pattern:

  dc3dd wipe=/dev/sdb pat=009900

• Overwrite using Text pattern:

  dc3dd wipe=/dev/sdb tpat=ireallylikecake

Which ever option you choose the output will look like the following.

root@ubuntu:~# dc3dd wipe=/dev/sde log=dc3dd-wipe.txt

dc3dd 7.1.614 started at 2012-06-06 23:05:41 -0700
compiled options:
command line: dc3dd wipe=/dev/sde log=dc3dd-wipe.txt
device size: 1007616 sectors (probed)
sector size: 512 bytes (probed)
515899392 bytes (492 M) copied (100%), 125.02 s, 3.9 M/s

input results for pattern `00':
  1007616 sectors in

output results for device `/dev/sde':
  1007616 sectors out

dc3dd completed at 2012-06-06 23:07:46 -0700

If you like you can start multiple instances of dc3dd and wipe more than one drive. Take caution, you don’t want to wipe a working drive by accident. Feel free to comment, I will answer in a timely manner.

dc3dd @ SourceForce