Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) is a simple bootable data destruction tool created by Darik Horn. Boot and Nuke from disk Spoiler When disposing of a hard drive (or a computer containing a hard drive), the data on the hard drive should be securely deleted. Formatting or re-partitioning the hard drive will not do this properly - sensitive data can still be extracted using suitable software. DBAN (Darik's Boot & Nuke) is a utility to securely wipe a hard drive, by repeatedly over-writing the entire hard drive several times. DBAN is included on the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD). This HowTo will describe how to use DBAN on UBCD to securely wipe a hard drive. To start, boot from a UBCD bootable CD. This may involve changing the BIOS options to make the computer boot from CD. Use the menus to select Hard Disk Tools, then Wiping Tools, then Darik's Boot and Nuke. Once DBAN has booted, you will be presented with the following screen: DBAN start screen Autonuke The easiest option is to type autonuke, then press ENTER. This will wipe any fitted hard drives, using the default options. The progress of each hard drive will be displayed in the main, lower part of the screen. The time taken, and an estimate of the time remaining, is displayed in the Statistics box. The screenshot below shows DBAN wiping two hard drives: DBAN running in autonuke mode When DBAN is finished, it will display a message similar to the one below: DBAN autonuke finished message Interactive Mode Interactive mode allows greater control. To start DBAN in interactive mode, just press ENTER at the DBAN start screen. When DBAN has started, you will be presented with the following screen: DBAN interactive Use the up/down cursor and SPACE keys to select the hard drives and partitions to be wiped. If desired, you can select the pseudo-random number generator, wiping method, verification method and rounds. Each option has explanatory text when it is selected. When you are happy with the selected options, press F10 to start wiping. As with autonuke mode, when DBAN has finished, it will display a message. The CD can be removed and the computer powered off. Install DBAN to a USB Flash Drive using Windows Spoiler It can be used to securely wipe an entire hard drive or an attached external disk (IDE or SCSI), completely deleting all contents of the disk. Upon completion, you should be able to run DBAN from your USB device. DBAN Startup Menu Screenshot Distribution Home Page: http://www.dban.org Minimum Flash Drive Capacity: 32MB (11MB free space) DBAN Live USB Flash Drive Creation Essentials Windows PC to perform conversion dban-2.2.6_i586.iso 32MB+ USB flash drive (fat32 formatted) Universal USB-Installer (does the conversion) DBAN Live USB Flash Drive Creation tutorial dban exe file Download the dban-2.2.6_i586.iso Download and run Universal USB Installer, select DBAN 2.2.6 from the drop down list and follow the onscreen instructions Once the installation to USB is complete, restart your PC and set your BIOS or Boot Menu to boot from the USB device, save your changes and reboot If all went well, you should be booting from your DBAN USB. Notes: The DBAN autonuke feature may also Nuke the Flash Drive (and as usual, any other drive it detects). To prevent DBAN's autonuke feature from wiping the thumb drive, "Remove your thumb drive after dban has loaded, but before it has started wiping drives."
