Ubuntu Manpage: nwipe - securely erase disks

NAME

       nwipe - securely erase disks

SYNOPSIS

       nwipe [options] [device1] [device2] ...

DESCRIPTION

       nwipe  is  a command that will securely erase disks using a variety of recognised methods.
       It is a fork of the dwipe command used by Darik's Boot and Nuke (dban).  nwipe is included
       with  partedmagic if you want a quick and easy bootable CD version.  nwipe was created out
       of a need to run the DBAN dwipe command outside of DBAN, in order to allow  its  use  with
       any host distribution, thus giving better hardware support.  It is essentially the same as
       dwipe, with a few changes:

       - pthreads is used instead of fork

       - The parted library is used to detect drives

       - The code is designed to be compiled with gcc

       - SIGUSR1 can be used to log the stats of the current wipe

OPTIONS

-V, --version
Prints the version number

-h, --help
Prints a help summary

--autonuke
If no devices have been specified on the command line, starts wiping all devices
immediately. If devices have been specified, starts wiping only those specified
devices immediately.

--autopoweroff
Power off system on completion of wipe delayed for for one minute. During this one
minute delay you can abort the shutdown by typing sudo shutdown -c

--sync=NUM
Will perform a syn after NUM writes (default: 100000)

0 - fdatasync after the disk is completely written
fdatasync errors not detected until completion.
0 is not recommended as disk errors may cause nwipe
to appear to hang

1 - fdatasync after every write
Warning: Lower values will reduce wipe speeds.

1000 - fdatasync after 1000 writes

--noblank
Do not perform the final blanking pass after the wipe (default is to blank, except
when the method is RCMP TSSIT OPS-II).

--nowait
Do not wait for a key before exiting (default is to wait).

--nosignals
Do not allow signals to interrupt a wipe (default is to allow).

--nousb
Do not show or wipe any USB devices, whether in GUI, --nogui or autonuke mode.
(default is to allow USB devices to be shown and wiped).

--nogui
Do not show the GUI interface. Can only be used with the autonuke option. Nowait
option is automatically invoked with the nogui option. SIGUSR1 can be used to
retrieve the current wiping statistics.

-v, --verbose
Log more messages, useful for debugging.

--verify=TYPE
Whether to perform verification of erasure (default: last)

off - Do not verify

last - Verify after the last pass

all - Verify every pass

Please mind that HMG IS5 enhanced always verifies the last (PRNG) pass regardless
of this option.

-m, --method=METHOD
The wiping method (default: dodshort).

dod522022m / dod - 7 pass DOD 5220.22-M method

dodshort / dod3pass - 3 pass DOD method

gutmann - Peter Gutmann's Algorithm

ops2 - RCMP TSSIT OPS-II

random / prng / stream - PRNG Stream

zero / quick - Overwrite with zeros 0x00

one - Overwrite with ones 0xFF

verify_zero - Verifies disk is zero filled

verify_one - Verifies disk is 0xFF filled

is5enh - HMG IS5 enhanced

-l, --logfile=FILE
Filename to log to. Default is STDOUT

-p, --prng=METHOD
PRNG option (mersenne|twister|isaac|isaac64)

-q, --quiet
Anonymize serial numbers, Gui & logs display:
XXXXXXXX = S/N obtained & anonymized.
???????? = S/N not available.

-r, --rounds=NUM
Number of times to wipe the device using the selected method (default: 1)

-e, --exclude=DEVICES
Up to ten comma separated devices to be excluded, examples:
--exclude=/dev/sdc
--exclude=/dev/sdc,/dev/sdd

BUGS

       Please      see      the      GitHub      site       for       the       latest       list
       (https://github.com/martijnvanbrummelen/nwipe/issues)

AUTHOR