KillDisk Thecus User manual

KillDisk Systems — User's Manual

| Contents | 2
Contents
Legal statement......................................................................................................... 4
KillDisk overview......................................................................................................5
Erasing confidential data...................................................................................................................................... 5
International standards in data removal............................................................................................................... 6
Security hardware................................................................................................................................................. 6
Advanced data recovery systems......................................................................................................................... 6
KillDisk station overview......................................................................................... 7
What's in the box?.............................................................................................................................................. 11
Utility software and external tools..................................................................................................................... 12
Menu and navigation.......................................................................................................................................... 12
Boot Menu.......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Getting started with KillDisk................................................................................ 15
KillDisk installation and distribution................................................................................................................. 15
Navigating through the application.................................................................................................................... 15
Disk Explorer view.............................................................................................................................................17
Disk Bays view.......................................................................................................................................17
Disk Bays tree view............................................................................................................................... 18
Local Disks tree view.............................................................................................................................19
Property views.................................................................................................................................................... 20
Using KillDisk......................................................................................................... 23
Processing options and features......................................................................................................................... 23
Disk erase options...................................................................................................................................23
Disk examination options....................................................................................................................... 23
Disk copy options................................................................................................................................... 24
Error handling......................................................................................................................................... 24
XML reports............................................................................................................................................25
Examine disks physical integrity........................................................................................................................26
Disk erasure........................................................................................................................................................ 27
Processing summary........................................................................................................................................... 29
Reports, Certificates and Labels.........................................................................................................................30
Erase certificate.......................................................................................................................................30
Reports.....................................................................................................................................................31
Erase labels............................................................................................................................................. 32
Preferences...............................................................................................................37
General preferences............................................................................................................................................ 37
Disk erase preferences........................................................................................................................................ 39
Disk examination preferences............................................................................................................................ 41
Certificate preferences........................................................................................................................................ 42
Error handling preferences................................................................................................................................. 44

| Contents | 3
Erase labels preferences......................................................................................................................................46
KillDisk station preferences............................................................................................................................... 47
Advanced tools........................................................................................................ 48
File Browser........................................................................................................................................................48
Hexadecimal Viewer...........................................................................................................................................49
SMART Monitor.................................................................................................................................................51
Troubleshooting, Backup and System Recovery................................................. 53
Hardware diagnostic file.....................................................................................................................................53
System Recovery - Reset to Factory Settings....................................................................................................53
System Recovery - Reinstallation with a bootable disk.................................................................................... 54
Application log........................................................................................................ 55
Appendix.................................................................................................................. 56
Glossary...............................................................................................................................................................56
Erase methods..................................................................................................................................................... 57
File name tags.....................................................................................................................................................59

| Legal statement | 4
Legal statement
Copyright © 2016, LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be
reproduced in any form or by any means or used to make any derivative work (such as translation, transformation, or
adaptation) without written permission from LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. reserves the right to revise this documentation and to make changes in content from
time to time without obligation on the part of LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. to provide notification of such revision
or change.
LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC. provides this documentation without warranty of any kind, either implied or
expressed, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
LSOFT may make improvements or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this documentation
at any time.
All technical data and computer software is commercial in nature and developed solely at private expense. As
the User, or Installer/Administrator of this software, you agree not to remove or deface any portion of any legend
provided on any licensed program or documentation contained in, or delivered to you in conjunction with, this User
Guide.
Active@ KillDisk, the Active@ KillDisk logo, KillDisk, KillDisk for Industrial Systems, KillDisk Desktop and
Erasers Software are trademarks of LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
LSOFT.NET logo is a trademark of LSOFT TECHNOLOGIES INC.
Other brand and product names may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.

| KillDisk overview | 5
KillDisk overview
KillDisk is a powerful software that delivers the following main features:
• Erase data on the entire hard disk drive surface, supports parallel erasing up to 5 disks;
• Destroy data permanently with a choice of dozens of international disk sanitizing standards;
• Sanitize external disks (USB drives, external HDD/SSD) connected to USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and eSATA ports;
• Examine disk integrity and overall stability, disk verification and detect bad sectors;
• Auto-erase mode sanitizes disks and prints certificates without of any user interaction;
• Hot-swap operations are fully supported, erase could be auto-initiated upon HDD plug-in;
• Complete system control from LCD panel with push button navigation;
• Additional peripheral devices and monitor could be also connected for a GUI interface and convenient system
control;
• Visual indication of current actions on LCD panel and LED lights for disk processes;
• Browse file systems on disk volumes and inspect particular sectors Hex Viewer on a low level;
• Issue customizable certificates and detailed reports for disk erase and examination;
• Print different types of labels to be attached to hard disks after erase completion;
• Provides enhanced information about disks and their attributes including S.M.A.R.T. monitoring;
• Network accessible - Reports and Certificates may be stored on a network share, network printer compatible and
access to built-in internet browser.
• and more...
KillDisk maintains the highest standards in disk erasure, and with that, provides extensive documentation options for
its' operations through Reports, printable Erase certificate on page 30 and Erase labels on page 32.
KillDisk Desktop
KillDisk Desktop is the complete hardware disk erase solution - a workstation that is ready and configured to erase
drives right out of the box. Without the need for additional peripherals, KillDisk Desktop come configured with
everything you need to examine and erase HDD's, SSD's, USB's and any other attached memory storage devices,
with printer and internet support for documentation and reporting. Designed specifically to be ready out of the box,
KillDisk Desktop is the best KillDisk hardware solution on the market.
Erasing confidential data
Modern methods of data encryption are deterring unwanted network attackers from extracting sensitive data from
stored database files. Attackers who want to retrieve confidential data are becoming more resourceful by looking into
places where data might be stored temporarily. A hard drive on a local network node, for example, can be a prime
target for such a search. One avenue of attack is the recovery of data from residual data on a discarded hard disk
drive. When deleting confidential data from hard drives, removable floppies or USB devices, it is important to extract
all traces of the data so that recovery is not possible.
Most official guidelines around disposing of confidential magnetic data do not take into account the depth of today’s
recording densities, nor the methods used by the operating system when removing data. For example, the Windows
DELETE command merely changes the file name so that the operating system will not look for the file. The situation
with NTFS is similar.
Removal of confidential personal information or company trade secrets in the past might have used the FORMAT
command or the DOS FDISK command. Ordinarily, using these procedures give users a sense of confidence that the
data has been completely removed.
When using the FORMAT command, Windows displays a message like this:
Important:

| KillDisk overview | 6
Formatting a disk removes all information from the disk.
The FORMAT utility actually creates new FAT and ROOT tables, leaving all previous data on the disk untouched.
Moreover, an image of the replaced FAT and ROOT tables are stored, so that the UNFORMAT command can be
used to restore them.
As well, FDISK merely cleans the Partition Table (located in the drive's first sector) and does not touch anything else.
International standards in data removal
KillDisk for Industrial Systems conforms to four international standards for clearing and sanitizing data. You can be
sure that once you erase a disk with KillDisk for Windows, sensitive information is destroyed forever.
KillDisk for Industrial Systems is a quality security application that destroys data permanently from any computer
that can be started using a bootable CD or DVD-ROM. Access to the drive's data is made on the physical level via
the BIOS (Basic Input-Output Subsystem), bypassing the operating system’s logical drive structure organization.
Regardless of the operating system, file systems or type of machine, this utility can destroy all data on all storage
devices. It does not matter which operating systems or file systems are located on the machine
Security hardware
KillDisk authorization provided by external or internal removable USB key with license and user information. This
USB key must be inserted all the time to make KillDisk software operable.
Advanced data recovery systems
Advances in data recovery have been made such that data can be reclaimed in many cases from hard drives that have
been wiped and disassembled. Security agencies use advanced applications to find cybercrime related evidence. Also
there are established industrial spy agencies adopting sophisticated channel coding techniques such as PRML (Partial
Response Maximum Likelihood), a technique used to reconstruct the data on magnetic disks. Other methods include
the use of magnetic force microscopy and recovery of data based on patterns in erase bands.
Although there are very sophisticated data recovery systems available at a high price, data can easily be restored with
the help of an off-the-shelf data recovery utility like Active@ File Recovery, making your erased confidential data
quite accessible.
Using KillDisk for Industrial Systems, our powerful and compact utility, all data on your hard drive or removable
device can be destroyed without the possibility of future recovery. After using KillDisk, disposal, recycling, selling or
donating your storage device can be done with peace of mind.

| KillDisk station overview | 7
KillDisk station overview
Figure 1: Thecus chassis for five disk bays, open
Thecus chassis components (front)
5 x HDD bays
The chassis has 5 disk slots with removable bays for the system to perform actions on up to 5 hard drives at
a time. The bays support 2.5" and 3.5" SATA disks for use with standard HDD's and SSD's. They are also
physically lockable using the keys included in the system.
Disk status LEDs
Each disk bay contains two status LEDs to monitor the bay status and activity.
USB 3.0 port
Connect USB devices to KillDisk Desktop with high-speed USB 3.0 support.
5 x LED light indicators
5 LED indicators are used to give feedback to the user on KillDisk oeprations
Power button
Powers on the Thecus hardware unit.
Reset button
Resets the hardware unit.
LCD display
Describes current process, allows user to navigate and access KillDisk menus, initiate processes and see progress.

| KillDisk station overview | 8
Navigation buttons
Buttons allow user to navigate menus on the LCD display, built into the hardware.
Figure 2: Reverse side of Thecus chassis
Thecus chassis components (back)
Power switch
Master power switch for the unit.
Power cable connector
Connector for a NEMA 5-15-P, 3 pronged power cable.
Audio and microphone connectors
Standard connectors. Not necessary for any KillDisk operations.
1 x eSATA port
Standard, high performance eSATA port for connecting drives to the KillDisk Desktop hardware.

| KillDisk station overview | 9
4 x USB 2.0 ports
Standard USB 2.0 ports. May be used for connecting storage devices or peripherals (i.e. mouse and keyboard) to
the system.
1x HDMI port
Standard HDMI port. May be used to connect an external monitor to the KillDisk Desktop system.
1 x VGA port
Standard VGA port. May be used to connect an external monitor to the KillDisk Desktop system.
2 x Ethernet port
Ethernet ports for networking with the system.
Thecus Lights and Indicators
The system has two main areas with lights and indicators: the chassis and the individual hard drive bays. This section
will outline what these indicators represent.
Figure 3: Thecus LED indicators
Chassis Indicators
The chassis has 5 LED indicators along the left side of the hardware unit, each indicating toward different states of the
system.
Table 1: Chassis light indicators
Item Description
1 - Activity Indicator Flashes during any KillDisk active process, such as
Erase, Examine, loading, etc.
2 - LAN 1 Indicator Lights up when the LAN 1 port is used.
3 - LAN 2 Indicator Lights up when the LAN 2 port is used.
4 - Not used -
5 - Critical Error Indicator Lights up in red when a critical error occurs in the
system.

| KillDisk station overview | 10
Disk Bay Indicators
Disk bays have their own LEDs that are utilized to give the user information on the current status of the individual
bay (or disk using the bay).
Table 2: Chassis light indicators
Item Description
6 - Active Disk Indicator Green, solid when disk bay is being used.
Green, flashing - Read/write activity
Red, solid - erase finished
7 - Disk Status Indicator
Red, flashing - read/write error
Figure 4: Thecus chassis for five disk bays, disk swapping