Questions[secure-delete](server)

I have remote ssh access and root access. I do not have physical access. I'm not looking for solutions involving booting into anything, I want to do this from what is currently running.

OS is SL6. Is there a way to load everything needed into RAM, and use dd or similar to securely wipe the entire disk? Obviously this will result in a non-functioning box in the end, my intended result.

It seems like this should be possible.

Two more interesting additions:

1. Be able to ssh in, run screen, run the dd command and detach. Log in a week later once it has finished. :)

2. Somehow have a progress bar?

Update: I am now going with the chroot option. Currently doing:

mkdir /dev/shm/ramdisk/ && cd ramdisk && mkdir bin lib64 && cd /lib64 && cp ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 libc.so.6 libdl.so.2 libpthread.so.0 librt.so.1 libtinfo.so.5 /dev/shm/ramdisk/lib64 && cd /bin && cp bash dd /dev/shm/ramdisk/bin && cd /dev/shm/ramdisk && chroot .

Which works(!) but I still need /dev/zero and /dev/sda. Any ideas there?

Update 2012-07-20:

mkdir /dev/shm/ramdisk/ && cd /dev/shm/ramdisk && mkdir bin lib64 && cd /lib64 && cp ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 libc.so.6 libdl.so.2 libpthread.so.0 librt.so.1 libtinfo.so.5 /dev/shm/ramdisk/lib64 && cd /bin && cp bash dd /dev/shm/ramdisk/bin && mkdir /dev/shm/ramdisk/dev && cd /dev/shm/ramdisk/dev && cp -a /dev/zero . && cp -a /dev/sda . && cd .. && chroot . dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=1M

Which appears to be doing something, but I would like to have some sort of progress indicator if possible, as well as a way to detach and then establish a new ssh connection later.

Will a "traditional" secure delete utility that overwrites physical sectors on a magnetic HDD work on an SSD, or will the SSD simply "remap" the sector to avoid the expensive delete operation and leave the data intact for an undetermined period?

I'm about to terminate my relationship with my hosting provider of many years, but I'd like to securely wipe the box before I do. This is a dedicated server running Debian on a single EXT3 drive and although I have root access, I can't boot alternate media since it's headless in a rack somewhere.

I don't need multiple passes, but I would like to wipe free space if possible. Basically I'd like to walk away and make sure I don't leave any of my personal data behind. I'm worried that the box might crash before it finishes wiping/syncing the filesystem if I just run srm -R -s /

When people ask on how to wipe a drive, it almost seems as if the default answer is DBAN and I am not really sure why. Especially when doing commands like

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda
dcfldd pattern="00" of=/dev/sda
dcfldd pattern="FF" of=/dev/sda
shred /dev/sda
wipe /dev/sda
cat /dev/sda | cat > /dev/sda
etc

All of these will do the exact same thing and using a tool like hdparm to execute a secure-erase command will be much better than all of the above. Given that it will also erase those blocks on the glist,

So what makes Dban so good and so recommended. Is there a technical reason why it is recommended? To me it seems like a waste of bandwidth and a blank cd.

I've got an original Asus Eee PC Netbook that I'd like to sell. When I've sold old computers in the past, I've typically done a deep/secure/zeroing out style format. How can I do this on a Linux Netbook? I'm looking for

1. The command that will let me do this

2. Advice on how I can do this on a device with (seemingly?) non-removable media

Thanks in advance!