byte.size...@simplelogin.com wrote: > Dale wrote: >> I'm not necessarily needing to use shred or dd everything to make >> sure data can never be recovered, just reset to like new so I can start >> clean with a fresh new setup. >> <<snip>>> What is the fastest way > > In that scenario I would simply use gdisk (sys-apps/ > gptfdisk). > > When you open the drive (e.g. "gdisk /dev/sda") under the "extra > functionality (experts only)" menu there is the option: > > z zap (destroy) GPT data structures and exit > > Note that the drive does not need to be GPT formatted. Zapping it will > also ask to remove MBR structures too. > > This will give you a clean slate. Of course, since the actual data of > each partition has not been removed if you then create the exact same > partition table with the exact same offsets you will still be able to > mount the filesystems. Notably, if the start offset is the same, e.g. > "2048" and you try to run mkfs it will warn of existing signature > having been found. > > LVM signatures will s > till remain in place and the same would be possible. If that's not a > desirable outcome you can use LVM's "vgremove" and "pvremove" first to > remove the VG/PV signatures. > > None of this really matters much though since the data at these > locations would eventually be overwritten. And if you plan to do have > exact same layout, at the exact same offsets, then creating a new > filesystem or PV/VG/LV will inherently overwrite any existing signatures.
Sorry so long to reply. I had some things to do before using this method. I moved data from 4 drives to 3 larger drives. Now I'm resetting those 4 drives to use for other things. Given the new drive set is at 86%, I may have to move one of those 4 drives to the new drive set. Given that I have used this method, it does work. It resets the drives to no partition table at all. I also used shred for the first 40GBs or so just to be sure nothing could be recovered setup wise. Data may still be there but likely take some work to recover. Thing is, pvs shows no LVM drives available. So, it removes partition table and LVM data as well. Just what I needed. Thanks for the tip. Now to add this info to my little cheat file, where I put things I can't remember. My age is showing. :/ Dale :-) :-)
