How do i securely format a Buffalo LinkStation drive?

Question

I have an LinkStation Live NAS w/ a single 320gb drive. I'd like to sell it on ebay, but I want to securely format the drive so the data can't be recovered.

I'm not sure how to go about this -- the built in linkstation web util doesn't have this funtionality.

• it uses XFS format
• if i format it outside of the linkstation, will I destroy the system data that is (or might be?) stored on it?
• is the system data perhaps on another partition, so maybe I can format just the data partition?

Answer 1

not to worry. the system is NOT on the hard drive.

Formatting of hard drives is done in the System/Storage area of the Web Admin Tool. To format hard drives, select the hard drive(s) that you want to format and click on Format Disk.

source: User Manual, p.22

if you prefer a more thorough method, connect the LSL via USB to a computer and nuke the drive with DBAN or active@Killdisk. then connect it to the network again and format the drive as described above.

note: these bootable disks may not support USB, in this case you'll have to remove the HDD from the enclosure and connect it to the SATA controller of your computer in order to wipe it.