Using a PC, how to delete files from a Sunblade 150 IDE drive?

[tekmhe]

I haven't used my Sunblade 150 for many years, and its NVRAM battery is dead.

That's okay, because I no longer need the computer.

Before selling it, I want to delete many C source files, but can't because the computer won't boot.

Rather than locate and buy a new NVRAM with a good battery (no idea how), I removed the IDE drive and connected it to an IDE port (for a DVD drive) on an older PC, and booted Knoppix V8.6.1 from a flash drive.

Knoppix sees the IDE drive, but is unable to mount it.

I doubt the drive is bad because the computer was used only for building final releases for Sun customers. Development was done on Windows using Borland C++ (shows how old I am).

I'd appreciate suggestions on how to delete these files. For example, is there a different bootable PC distro that is more likely to see the file system on the IDE drive?

Thank you.

 

[SamBones]

Well, your goal is mostly about not letting the files enter the world out of your control. The easiest and safest thing is to just destroy the drive. Disassemble it and make a clock out of the platters. Sell the computer with no drive.

If you want to sell the computer with a drive, you can probably find an old IDE drive for very little money on Craigslist or eBay. Since it won't boot, you don't need to format it or install an OS. Just let the buyer know what they'll need to do to get it running.

 

[tekmhe]

Thanks, SamBones, for your fast response.

My second choice is to completely erase the drive (easy to do with a bootable utility) before selling the computer on eBay. It's not a money thing, it's more than I think someone might have a use for it, and I don't want to destroy something that still works.

My first choice is to delete the files. (and it's okay if they are somehow recovered via aggressive recovery methods, the files are not super private)

I've now found a Linux distro (Ubuntu) that sees the files, but I'm not able to remove them with "sudo rm ...", apparently because the file system (vs. the files) is mounted as read-only.

I don't know Unix/Linux well enough to know how to unmount the file system, remount it as read/write, and after deleting the files remount it as it was initially, in the hope that when the NVRAM is replaced, the computer will boot.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[SamBones]

The command "[tt]man mount[/tt]" will give you all the details of the mount command.

This link too.

Any one of the following [tt]mount[/tt] options will get you read/write to the drive. Just add one to the command you used to mount it with Ubuntu. Then delete away.

-o rw
-w
--rw
--read-write