VMS Drive Cleanup Assist

Erik> Hey all, I've got a DEC Alpha system that I can grab from work Erik> but not until I clean off the hard drives. Erik> It's a really nice system (server tower plus expansion, tons of Erik> docs and disks, etc.) that I'd like to make available at the Erik> VCF. Erik> The question is: how do I clean the drives completely without Erik> any real chance of data being recovered? The only other option Erik> would be to leave the drives behind so they can be crushed. Erik> I don't really know VMS and I'm not sure what versions are Erik> available, etc. I don't remember enough VMS DCL. But back in those days, there usually was an INITIALIZE command to put a new file system on a disk. And since disks typically had flaws that would be mapped around in the field (as opposed to at the factory, or in disk controller microcode) there were options to have it do a full disk surface scan. (On RSTS, which also uses DCL but doesn't always match VMS syntax, there's an EXERCISE switch that asks for that.) If you do a full scan, that writes every block with a test pattern, which blows away all the customer data. So try "HELP INITIALIZE" for hints. paul