VMS Drive Cleanup Assist

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Adrian" == Adrian Graham <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> writes:

 Adrian> On 26/10/05 19:49, "Erik Klein"
 Adrian> <classiccmp at vintage-computer.com> wrote:

 >> The question is: how do I clean the drives completely without any
 >> real chance of data being recovered?  The only other option would
 >> be to leave the drives behind so they can be crushed.

 Adrian> Later versions of VMS have an $init/erase command that
 Adrian> physically writes zeroes to the disk; the best way of
 Adrian> properly initialising is to put the drives through a
 Adrian> degausser ...

NO!  That will destroy your drives permanently.  If you do that,
you'll erase the servo data, which means that all you have left is a
paperweight. 

At one time there existed drives that have no servo data, but I think
all of those are sufficiently ancient that VMS doesn't support them.
The only example I can think of is the RK05.

    paul