I have a few posts about this but I want to confirm a couple of basic points for my ReadyNAS Duo (2 x 1TB RAID).
1) I'd like to upgrade the disks to 2TB, I believe it is the maximum for ReadyNAS Duo.
2) Once I have the new disks, it is simply a matter of a) removing 1 old disk, b) plug in 1 new disk in, c) let ReadyNAS synchronize it with the old 1TB and then d) replace the second old 1TB with a 2TB... e) let it synch et voila?
3) I'd end up with 2 2-year old 1 TB disks... might try to sell them...so how could I SECURELY erase them? any suggestion without any extra hardware? (I only have laptops, so not easy to plug in an old pc...).
Options thought of: - put them back in ReadyNAS and format the disks? is it secure? - any plugin that could do a secure delete if I plug them back in?
Formatting them in the NAS would not do a secure erase [note that here is an option to do a secure erase on x86 ReadyNAS (e.g. NVX, Ultra, Pro) but not Sparc ReadyNAS (e.g. Duo, NV+)] . However once disks have been initialised data recovery is very difficult. If you subsequently format it using a laptop it becomes even harder to recover data (the person trying to recover data would somehow need to guess how the NAS formatted and partitioned the disk and even then the chances of them recovering anything wouldn't be good).
What OS is on your laptops?
If you still want to do a secure erase, ideally you'd find a program that can write zeroes to an external disk (I would think this should be possible). If worse comes to worst you could format the disk using your laptop fill up the disk with data (e.g. several copies of a Linux iso or some other large file), format disk, fill up with data etc. a few times or so.
Use DBAN (just google it for website and download) which will wipe can do differnet types of wipes on hhd's, it comes as a self booting app, to be on the safe side before using it i would deconnect your pc drives (c:/ etc), as im not sure if it will wipe everything it can see or if you get options. Wiping with it can take hours, as it will do more than one pass on your disks (i think that options range from 1 to 7 passes).
So, since there are no comments on the upgrade method from 1TB to 2TB, I assume that it is the correct way.
The only remaining question is whether a product like DBan or any other secure disk eraser would work 'remotely'... and that means that I would have to replug the 2 1TB disks in the Duo in order to do this? However long that takes...
The only remaining question is whether a product like DBan or any other secure disk eraser would work 'remotely'... and that means that I would have to replug the 2 1TB disks in the Duo in order to do this? However long that takes...
They wouldn't work remotely like that. The disks would need to be connected to the system running it. You could try connecting the disks in an external enclosure to your Mac, open Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility) and do an erase. Under Security Options there should be options to do secure erases of different strengths.
That's not an enclosure, but a docking station (e.g. one you suggest) would be a simpler option if you just want to erase the disks ready for sale/disposal and not use them as external drives.
