The Erase Preferences tab allows for users to configure settings for the KillDisk erase procedures.
- Initialize disk(s) after erase
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When checked, this setting formats the disk(s) once an erase operation has been completed, initializing them for data storage. Otherwise, the erased disks will simply remain unformatted.
- Write fingerprint to first sector
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This feature will write the specified fingerprint to the first sector of the erased drive. If a machine is booted from this drive, the user will see this fingerprint as a message on the screen.
- Erase confirmation
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As a safety precaution to prevent accidental destruction of hard drives, KillDisk has the user type a keyphrase before the erase procedure is initiated (Figure 3.1.6). By default this precaution is set with the keyphrase "ERASE-ALL-DATA". This keyphrase can be modified, set as a randomly generated set of characters, or disabled in these settings.
Figure: Sensitive action confirmation dialog
Save XML erasure reports
- Report location
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User may configure where XML erasure reports are saved.
- File Name template
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Here you may specify the name template for the XML reports. Because every erase operation will generate a separate report, KillDisk saves the date and time in the default settings to keep reports. The main tags available are:
Table 1. File name template tags: Available file name element: Tag: Serial ID {Serial ID} Erasure Status {Status} Date of Erasure {Date(YYYY-MM-DD)} Time of Erasure {Time(HH-mm-ss)} To see additional file name tags available, see the File name tags section in the Appendix.
- Include system and hardware info
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Ensures that the system-specific information is saved in the XML report, such as:
- Operating system
- Kernel version
- Platform name
- Device attributes
- Disk geometry
- Partitioning information
- Active partitions
- Include technician information
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Optionally place the technician information (defined in the Certificate Preferences) into the XML erasure report
- Create separate report for each disk for batch operations
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By default batches are treated as one unit, so XML reports will include the report information for all the disks in a batch. This option allows for the user to create separate reports for each of the disks pertaining to a batch, so the disk records can be handled separately. This is useful when disk reports are required immediately for each disk; the batch does not need to complete before the report is issued.