Reformat USB stick with a CD ISO9660 FS

[Bevin Watson]

On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 22:25 +1000, Daniel Mons wrote:
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> Bevin Watson wrote:
> > delete the files from it.  It seems the simplest thing is to just
> > reformat the whole device.  However, I'm getting a little out of my
> > league thinking about partitions versus the whole device.  fdisk etc.
> > seem to be partition-based.  Should I just "dd" all over it?
> > nb: The USB stick shows up as /dev/scd1 (ISO 9660) and /dev/sdd1 (vfat)
> 
> I'd zero the device with dd.   Find out the device using "sudo fdisk -l"
> to print out all partitions and physical devices.  If it turns up as
> /dev/sdd, for example, use the following dd command to wipe it:
> 
> sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdd
> 
> This will give no output until the dd operation is complete.  It will
> simply write zeros (as in binary zeros, not the ASCII charcter "0") to
> the physical device, destroying all partitions in the process.  (Again,
> I cannot stress how important it is to check and ensure you are wiping
> the right disk - do this to your system or data disks and you can kiss
> their contents goodbye).
> 
> Once done, eject/remove the device, re-insert it, and type "sudo fdisk
> - -l" once again.  The device should show up all on it's own with no valid
> partition information attached.
> 
> - From here, partition and format it in whatever way you feel comfortable
> (fdisk, gparted, whatever).
> 
> On a semi-related note, those who want to securely wipe hard disks can
> use a similar method with alternating passes of /dev/zero and
> /dev/urandom.  I do this as standard when decomissioning desktops and
> laptops if they are to be donated, re-imaged, or eBay'ed somewhere.
> Servers and machines carrying highly sensitive data get a more severe
> dose of DoD 5220.22-M via "Darik's Boot and Nuke" (Google it for details).
> 
> - -Dan
Failed.  
It seems to see them as different devices (scd and sdd)
I tried again, writing zeroes to scd but it didn't seem interested in
me.
zzz at zzz:/media$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/scd
dd: writing to `/dev/scd': No space left on device
514929+0 records in
514928+0 records out
263643136 bytes (264 MB) copied, 16.7721 s, 15.7 MB/s
zzz at zzz:/media$ sudo gparted 
======================
libparted : 1.7.1
======================
Unable to open /dev/scd1 read-write (Read-only file system).  /dev/scd1
has been opened read-only.
Unable to open /dev/scd1 read-write (Read-only file system).  /dev/scd1
has been opened read-only.
Unable to open /dev/scd1 - unrecognised disk label.
Unable to open /dev/sdd - unrecognised disk label.
I'm strarting to think I should just leave the USB next to a big magnet
for a few days...