Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

typewriterjason · 2012-11-16 19:40:26

Hey all,

So, I've got an old eeepc 901 that I've reinstalled it's Asus-homebrew Xandros on, after having Ubuntu on there. (This was before I discovered #!) I'm planning to sell the netbook, so I want to bring it back to what it was when I opened the box.

Everything went okay, but it looks like the installation left all the files and data from the Ubuntu installation on there instead of wiping everything clean. The file system says I've got about 700 mb left, which seems weird.

Since the homebrewed linux distro has an emphasis on usesr-friendlieness, there aren't any easy-to find programs to use to take a look at the rest of the SSD, or to format/delete/otherwise muck about with the data. I can get to a terminal, however.

My linux-fu is still pretty weak, hmm so I'd be excited to hear some ideas about where to look for those gigabytes of data that the OS didn't wipe clean.

el_koraco · 2012-11-16 19:51:07

Since you're planning to sell it, why don't you properly wipe it beforehand in order to make any data you had unrecoverable by people other than the CIA? Boot a live distro, and run as root

 dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx

, where x is the disk, probably sda, but could be sdb or sdc. Run fdisk -l to see. If it takes too long, /dev/true might be better than /dev/zero. You'll have to reinstall Xandros, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

Last edited by el_koraco (2012-11-16 19:51:59)

typewriterjason · 2012-11-16 20:34:37

That's a great suggestion, and just the kind I was looking for! Much appreciated, el_koraco!

This is the kind of communication that makes this board great. I'm not just getting information, but I'm learning too.

oupsemma · 2012-11-17 08:12:46

By the way, the 901 has got 2 SSD, a small 4GB one and depending on the model a 8 or a 16GB one.

As el_koraco told you, use a live distro to wipe your drives, but check before hand how many SSD your 901 has.

$ df -h

will list all the partitions and drives that are mounted
and

$sudo blkid

will list all the partitions, mounted or not,

If your live distro is having GParted ( $ sudo gparted ), it can give you a visual idea of all your disks; but resist to temptation, don't delete partitions from there, but use $ dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx on the 2 SSD

Last edited by oupsemma (2012-11-17 08:23:19)

typewriterjason · 2012-11-18 06:49:36

Thansk for the tip, Oupsemma. I used gparted to make sure I was pointing my commands in the right direction.

Seemed to work. I've got the factory Xandros back on there with room to spare. To be honest, I'm recalling why I put a different linux flavour on there anyway... I'm not a fan of the home brew version they've got; it's not responsive and doesn't give you a whole lot of options. When I sell it I might also offer to put something different (like Ubuntu or #! if they're up for it) if they want a more up-to-date computing experience.

If I understand right, the dd command is essentially performing a copy of nothing to all the space on the disk designated? Is that why it took so long; because it had to touch every space on the disk to wipe it clean?

el_koraco · 2012-11-18 08:44:47

Not nothing, zeroes. It literally wrote zeroes over everything.

typewriterjason · 2012-11-18 18:45:18

Ok.

But that doesn't mean it created a gigantic file of zeroes, does it? Gparted showed the partitions as completely blank... or is this zeroes down to the binary level?

Thanks in advance for your patience with the newbie question...

el_koraco · 2012-11-18 19:22:08

Oh, yeah, binary zeroes, not ASCI ones. As in, all the files are stored as ones and zeroes on the binary level, and now they're all stored as zeroes. It's known as "low-level formatting". An even stronger security method is to use /dev/urandom, but unless you're selling the laptop to a security agency or someone with access to recovery software worth tens of thousands of dollars, you're set.

Last edited by el_koraco (2012-11-18 19:23:22)

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#1 2012-11-16 19:40:26

Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#2 2012-11-16 19:51:07

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#3 2012-11-16 20:34:37

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#4 2012-11-17 08:12:46

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#5 2012-11-18 06:49:36

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#6 2012-11-18 08:44:47

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#7 2012-11-18 18:45:18

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

#8 2012-11-18 19:22:08

Re: Reinstalling Xandros on my old netbook, not using the whole SSD

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