erase your hard drive with DBAN

In this review of DBAN I mention that it’s not the most user friendly product, but if you give it a couple stabs more often than not you’ll succeed. Keep in mind DBAN is open source and free. Commercial products often come with support where as open source, not so much.

Now on to the DBAN review…

darik’s boot and nuke is Free Software one can use to boot and nuke your hdd (hard drive).

But with so many open source and commercial solutions to erase your hard drive one might wonder what is the best and why? Lets review two solutions one can use to nuke your hard drive.

1. DBAN
2. WipeDrive

DBAN versus Wipedrive

DBAN is a free disk eraser located on sourceforge which will wipe most hard drives clear of all data. WipeDrive is approved by the Department of Defense, and it is trusted by government agencies and major corporations as their primary disk wipe utility. Wipedrive will permanently wipe all hard drive information / data including partitions, formats & file data. Wipe external hard drives, thumb drives, memory cards, SD, SDHD, SDXD, iPods & other external media. Support for all PC and Mac Computers (Intel, AMD & PowerPC).

If you don’ t mind paying a little cash WipeDrive is clearly the way to go. Its easier to use and can be used to wipe the drive of many of your hardware devices which contain a hard disk.

Keep in mind during this review that if you lack a little geek in your blood DBAN could be difficult to get going however, with a little perseverance even the faint of heart can get DBAN to do what they need it to do. Feel free to ask questions below in the comment section.

“Darik’s Boot and Nuke (”DBAN”) is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction on your hdd. The most recent release is beta DBAN 2.2.6. In order to install DBAN wants you to burn the file to a blank disc and boot the computer with it. Do not unzip this file.

DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer, and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses, malware, and spyware. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis. This means it writes over the existing data making it virtually impossible to recover the data it over wrote. Both wipe drive and dariks boot and nuke are great options to erase your hard drive.

Both utilities will permanently wipe your hard drive clean.

Download WipeDrive here

or go to dban.sourceforge.net

Now one might ask “How do I use dban to erase my hard drive?” well I’m glad you asked! Below I’ll give you two simple to use instructions to autonuke your hard drive clean.

There are two ways to accomplish this, I’ll review both ways in simple form then break down the USB Flash installation in more detail. 1 – load dban to a CD, 2 – install dban on a USB flash drive

Simple dban CD install instructions – DBAN 2.x only:

1. Download the most recent version of DBAN 2.x
2. Burn the ISO to CD
3. Insert the CD into your CD ROM
4. Reboot your computer
5. Follow the prompts

Installing DBAN on a floppy or USB flash drive

DBAN version 1.0.7 allows you to install the dban to flash drive or floppy disk. Here’s the simple step by step instructions:

1. Download the exe file
2. double click the exe file to execute it
3. follow the instruction presented to load it onto you flash drive or floppy disk

If that didn’t work for you here’s more detailed installation instructions for Darik’s Boot and Nuke (dban-1.0.7_i386)

——————

1.0 About Darik’s Boot and Nuke

2.0 Installing DBAN

2.1 Creating the DBAN boot media on Microsoft Windows

2.2 Creating the DBAN CD-R disc on Microsoft Windows

2.3 Creating the DBAN floppy disk on Linux

2.4 Creating the DBAN CD-R disc on Linux

3.0 Using DBAN

3.1 Getting Help and Support

4.0 Configuring DBAN

4.1 Automatic Wiping

4.2 SYSLINUX.CFG

5.1 Free Updates

5.2 Contact Information

6.0 Advanced Features

6.1 Logging

6.2 PRNG Seeding

7.0 Legal

1.0 About Darik’s Boot and Nuke

——————————–

Darik’s Boot and Nuke (“DBAN”) is a self-contained boot floppy that securely

wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely

delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an

appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction and cleaning.

2.0 Installing DBAN

——————–

2.1 Creating the DBAN boot media on Microsoft Windows

——————————————————-

Double-click the ‘dban-1.0.7_i386.exe’ program to install DBAN to a

floppy disk or USB flash device.

You must use an account with full hardware access to create the DBAN boot

media. This means that you must be a member of the administrators group or

have similar privileges on your Microsoft Windows computer. Virus scanners

and domain policies can prevent you from creating the DBAN boot media.

The USB booting capabilities of many computers are incomplete or broken. Most

computers capable of booting from a USB device require that it report a

removable media type, and that it be unpartitioned and smaller than two

gigabytes (so that the BIOS can boot it like a floppy disk).

If the drive letter of your USB device does not appear in WinImage drive list,

then it is an unsupported media type. In particular, most USB+IDE bridge

implementations are unrecognized, which means that a 2.5 inch hard disk in an

external USB enclosure is incompatible.

2.2 Creating the DBAN CD-R disc on Microsoft Windows

———————————————————–

If you do not have a floppy drive, or if you wish to use a CD drive or

DVD drive instead, then get the “CDR/CDRW version” from the DBAN home page,

which is an ISO file.

The DBAN FAQ has a tutorial for burning the DBAN ISO on Microsoft Windows.

If you already have burning software installed on your computer, then

double-click the ISO file to burn DBAN to blank CD-R or CD-RW media. Keep all

defaults for mode and emulation if you burn the ISO file with a product like

Nero Burning ROM.

If nothing happens when you double-click the DBAN ISO file, or if the “Open

With” dialog that asks you to “choose a program” starts, then you do not have

burning software installed that understands the ISO format.

Note that CD-ROM drives manufactured before 1998 often have problems reading

CD-R media, and will sometimes damage it. Try to use a DBAN floppy disk on

older computers.

Similarly, CD-RW media is often more problematic than CD-R media. Try to use

CD-R media with DBAN, especially on older computers.

2.3 Creating the DBAN floppy disk on Linux

——————————————-

# unzip dban-1.0.7_i386.exe

# dd if=dban-1.0.7_i386.ima of=/dev/floppy bs=1024

The DBAN EXE file is a regular zip file with the WinImage SFX module prepended.

InfoZip, which is bundled with most Linux distributions, can unpack the DBAN

EXE file. Ignore any offset warnings.

If /dev/floppy does not exist on your computer, then try /dev/fd0 or

/dev/floppy/0 instead. This command also works on BSD systems.

2.4 Creating the DBAN CD-R/CD-RW disc on Linux

———————————————–

# cdrecord dban-1.0.7_i386.iso

Ensure that the /etc/defaults/cdrecord file is properly configured for your

computer.

3.0 Using DBAN

—————

Boot the computer with the DBAN media like you would boot a DOS startup disk or

like you would reinstall an operating system. DBAN cannot be started from

within Microsoft Windows.

Doing this often requires changing the “boot order” of the computer so that

DBAN is started before the operating system on the hard disk is started.

Run the built-in BIOS setup program and put the floppy drive and the CD-ROM

drive first in the boot order. Do this by pushing <ESC>, <DEL>, <F1>, or <F2>

when you power-on the computer. The correct button and menu changes vary

between computers. Watch for a prompt when you power-on the computer or

consult the motherboard documentation.

Let’s say you choose a floppy disk. Insert the dban floppy and boot to it.

Dban has an automatic mode – type “autonuke” to enter into auto mode to completely erase your hard drive clean.

Now that autonuke is loading give it a minute or two to start. If it fails then reset your computer and at dban start up press f4 for troubleshooting hints.

Now that DBAN has started erasing your hard drive the speed will vary based on the size and speed of your hard drive.

If DBAN isn’t working out for you I highly recommend WipeDrive

3.1 Getting Help and Support

—————————–

First, read the frequently asked questions at:

dban.org/faq/

Second, search for an answer and then ask for help in the forum at:

sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=208932

Third, send email to support@dban.org and ensure that you have “DBAN” somewhere

in the subject line.

Include this information if you ask a question or make a support request:

1. The DBAN release that you are trying to use. (eg: dban-1.0.7)

2. The DBAN media that you are trying to use. (eg: floppy disk)

3. The computer manufacturer and model information. (eg: Dell OptiPlex 170L)

4. The exact message that you see. (eg: “DBAN failed with error 255.”)

5. Anything else that is unusual about your computer or pertinent to the

situation. (eg: “I am trying to hot swap my disks.”)

Contact us if you wish to purchase a support contract.

You are also welcome to call us directly if you have previously purchased a

DBAN enhancement or customization, or if you have made a donation or other

contribution to the DBAN project.

4.0 Configuring DBAN

———————

4.1 Automatic Wiping

———————

Enter “autonuke” at the boot prompt to automatically wipe all devices in the

computer without confirmation.

4.2 SYSLINUX.CFG

—————–

The “A:\SYSLINUX.CFG” file is the DBAN configuration file. You may change the

default behavior of DBAN by editing this file after you create the DBAN floppy

disk. The SYSLINUX.CFG is self-documented.

The CDR/CDRW version of DBAN must be remastered to change the SYSLINUX.CFG file

that is embedded in the ISO file. DBAN will fail if the ISO file is changed by

an editor like IsoBuster.

5.1 Free Updates

—————–

If you wish to be automatically notified of DBAN updates, then visit:

sourceforge.net/project/monitor_project.php?group_id=61951

A similar service is provided by:

freshmeat.net/subscribe/31200/

5.2 Contact Information

————————

General inquiries: dajhorn@dban.org

Help and support: support@dban.org

All e-mail messages must have “DBAN” in the subject line. Messages

Post your questions below and I’ll do my best to help you. First and foremost you’ll need to ensure you have the most recent version of DBAN. If you still can’t erase your hard drive with DBAN post your question below.

The setting you use for any server depend heavily upon the amount of available RAM / CPU etc as well as the consumption of these resources by other application and or services running in your environment.

In general you want to modify several configuration files to obtain optimal performance. The files you need to modify are:

• /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
• /etc/mysql/my.cnf
• /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Let’s start with apache2.conf

Apache2.conf is the main Apache server configuration file. It contains the configuration directives that give the server its instructions. See http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ for detailed information about the directives.

I want to focus on:

• Timeout 300
• KeepAlive On
• MaxKeepAliveRequests 100
• KeepAliveTimeout 1

These keep alive and timeout setting stop external request from eating up apache processes. The above setting will work for just about any setup.

Next let’s talk about the prefork module in apache2.conf, you want to start with



StartServers 4
MinSpareServers 4
MaxSpareServers 10
MaxClients 40
ServerLimit 30
MaxRequestsPerChild 2000



This tells apache how many workers to start with max amount of allowed connects. These numbers play a role in CPU and adjusting them and monitoring the changes overtime will help you optimize apache.

Now restart apache to load the new configuration.

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now let’s move on to my.cnf

located in /etc/mysql/my.cnf this controls, among other things, the resource mysql will consume, most importantly RAM.


[mysqld]
key_buffer = 512M
sort_buffer_size = 8M
read_buffer_size = 8M
read_rnd_buffer_size = 8M
myisam_sort_buffer_size = 40M
query_cache_size = 64M
skip-innodb
table_cache = 128
max_allowed_packet = 6M
thread_stack = 192K
thread_cache_size = 8
query_cache_limit = 1M
query_cache_size = 16M
[mysqldump]
quick
quote-names
max_allowed_packet = 16M
[isamchk]
key_buffer = 16M


The above is a good mysql optimization starting part. Only use skip-innodb if your using wordpress without innodb enabled, which is default for wordpress.

Now we move to PHP optimization.

You’re going to optimize the php.ini file located /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini


max_execution_time = 30
memory_limit = 64M
mysql.cache_size = 2000
session.gc_maxlifetime = 1440
mysqli.cache_size = 2000


The above is a good starting point for optimization on a standard size ubuntu server with average resources for a small to medium size server. PHP isn’t to bad of a memory hog but if your pages are dynamic created with PHP you’ll see CPU spikes on page loads if your server isn’t configured optimally or your resources are just extended to far due to server load.

Some other points of interest.

Are you using any type of caching with WordPress (such as WP-SuperCache)? You may be able to squeeze a bit more performance out of your Ubuntu server by implementing some caching for the websites themselves.

If this does not handle the caching efficiently enough there are more advanced solutions available including using Memcached and Varnish. Memcached is used to cache SQL queries, and Varnish is used to cache dynamic content websites to allow you to serve the content faster.

Along with that you may want to consider scaling your services horizontally. This would be to separate your web server and your SQL server to separate hardware. This would allow your web server and SQL database to operate on different hardware, therefore they would not need to contend with each other for system resources.

Go

1. write a job ad

• bullet point task
• Skills and attributes you’re looking for
• Ethical, passion, certified

• Write a great Job ad (title) that Stands Out
• Headline and subhead
• Tell a story, make it personal with pictures / video of the team member.

2. Advertise the Job

• Jobstreet.com
• bestjobs.ph -
• remotestaff.com.au -
• odesk.com -

3. Use a Questionaire

• Send ad responders to a questionaire – surveymonkey.com
• Ideally, how many hours a week can you work for me?
• when are you avilable?
• what hourly rate?
• why did you apply to this position
• One question related to job.

4. Simple Task

• Give small task related to job post. Look for quality and speed.

5. Pre-screen

• Ask for resume / cover letter
• Filter on English level and attention to detail.

6. Interview

• Schedule Skype with webcam -
• Webcam shows quality internet connection and personable level.
• Ask about work history. “A” players love to talk about their past!!
• What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses?

7. Trail

• Give someone a one month trial, to ensure they like you, and you like them.

To remove copyright and policy links in OpenVBX footer area.

Go to /OpenVBX/views/layout/content/footer.php

Remove content from between the DIV’s

If you can’t see the images on the subscriptions and outbound plugins by Chad Smith – go into the plugin folders and modify

/plugins/chadsmith-OpenVBX-Plugin-Subscriptions/subscriptions.php
/plugins/chadsmith-OpenVBX-Plugin-Outbound/queue.php

find – /assets/i/action-icons-sprite.png
and change to /your-install-folder/assets/i/action-icons-sprite.png

To replace the OpenVBX logo you need to overwrite /assets/themes/default/images/openvbx-header-logo.png

Here is the call flow for a person on their cell phone calling you at your desk.

Cell Phone –> Twilio –> OpenVbx –> PC based Phone, SIP phone, IPHONE, SMS, etc

You can make and receive calls in so many ways and with the API Twilio has give us there isn’t much you can’t do with OpenVbx and Twilio bundled together.

The install is simple!

1. Unload OpenVbx.org install tar or zip in web accessible directory.

2. create mysql database

3. browse to the directory you installed OpenVbx in

4. follow short, point and click install menu.

I did run into an issue after the installation. I got an error “Could Not Validate Your Request” – I found the OpenVbx support forum and emailed the OpenVbx support person (Shawn) for help and within minutes I was given great support. The issue was a small bug (with certain host types) and he had a work around for it, which was already posted in the forum.

I had several question for Shawn and he was very open and helpful at 1:00 AM in the morning!

Here is our email conversation paraphrased of course, Q and A style.

Me (Question): Does OpenVbx Support Multi-tenant or multiple users?

OpenVbx (Answer): OpenVBX does support a multi-tenant use case. If you go to the Settings > Tenants section you can create more tenants in the system. Each tenant logs in and only sees their own data. When creating a tenant you’ll give them a name and that will dicate how they access the system, ie: http://domain.com/tenant-name – they’ll be completely segregated from the main account and the other tenants.

Me (Question): What about Billing for each tenant?

OpenVbx (Answer): For billing have you thought about using Twilio Connect? You can bill your customers for the services that you provide but then have them set up as a Tenant in OpenVBX. Once set up they use your install but all of their usage gets billed directly to their account. You don’t get the chance to mark-up the minutes/text rates but at least they’re on the hook for usage and not you. http://www.twilio.com/api/connect

First add google plus one to the right of your post title.

add_action('genesis_post_title', 'google_plus_one');
function google_plus_one()
{
    if ( is_page() )
        return; // don't show google plus 1 on pages

    ?> <div class="plus_one"><g:plusone href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"></g:plusone></div>
<?php }

The add some CSS to float it right

.plus_one {
float:right;
margin:-40px 0;
}

Now add the google +1 javascript to your header so google can track the clicks.

add_action('genesis_post_title', 'google_plus_one_script');
function google_plus_one_script()
{
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<?php }

So hubspot made a little link bait guide covering 7 free tools that many people use. I liked it so here it is guys, anyone that’s been in IM for more than 2 months knows this stuff but it’s great information for someone new to the game or perhaps you have a family member that has their own business and could uses some google love.

Here is what the guide covers:

1. Google Places – consider this the REAL Yellow Pages on the Internet
2. Google AdWords – pay per click ads
3. Google Docs – Office like products in the cloud
4. Google Keyword Tool – how many people are search particular keywords per month?
5. Google Alerts – follow keywords of your liking
6. Google News – news headline aggregator
7. Google Reader – read all your fav websites in one area

7 Useful Google Business Tools