AFDW v1.3

[1.3.0] - 2025-09-17

Added

• Zero-pass fallback triggered automatically if discard verification fails.
• Progress/ETA via pv for long writes (noise and zero passes), with automatic fallback to dd status=progress when pv isn’t available.
• Pre-partition gap wipe helper that’s MBR/GPT-aware and respects protective/primary/backup GPT areas.

Previous version (1.2) had a big problem where it wasn't correctly formatting the drive in exFat. It was wiping fine but would hang on volume ID.

This was because we were racing the kernel/udev (partition node not ready yet) and hadn’t set the partition type, so blkid/lsblk didn’t report exFAT reliably; we fixed that by adding the partprobe/udevadm settle/rescan loop and setting the type (MBR=0x07, GPT=msftdata).

After that, the only remaining “fail” was our own verifier flagging the pre-partition gap while --skip-wipe was on, which we changed to SKIP (and only FAIL in --strict).

In my pursuit to find that problem, I added some features and a more robust method of formatting and being mindful of different setups:

• Verification suite:

  • Protective MBR 0x55AA signature check.
  • Pre-partition gap erased check (now SKIP when --skip-wipe, FAIL only in --strict).
  • Middle/last MiB erased checks.
  • Partition table type matches requested MBR/GPT.
  • exFAT filesystem presence, label format, UUID format (####-####), 1MiB alignment, and readable sample inside partition.
  • MBR 0x07 / GPT Microsoft Basic Data (EBD0A0A2-…) partition type validation.

• Robust partition re-read flow: partprobe, udevadm settle, partx, kpartx (if present), blockdev --rereadpt, and MMC rescan fallback.

• Safety checks: refuse to run in WSL or containers; refuse system/root disk unless --genius.

• Non-interactive mode with --device + --erase-confirm ERASE.

• FAST mode (--fast): if DISCARD unsupported, skip noise pass.

• Skip/limit modes: --skip-wipe, --noise-only, --zero-only.

• Formatting controls: --no-format, --force-format, --gpt, label modes (--label RANDOM|CUSTOM, --label-text).

• mkfs selection: prefer mkfs.exfat (exfatprogs), fallback to mkexfatfs (exfat-utils) with SPC computed from cluster size & sector size.

• Cluster-size auto-pick for exFAT based on partition size (16K/32K/64K/128K).

• Post-format snapshot (lsblk, blkid) and EXFAT signature verification.

• JSON logging (device metadata, modes, timings) + per-run text verification log.

• Power-off/eject on success via udisksctl (if available).

• Doctor mode (--doctor) to check environment/deps.

• Auto-install optional (--install-deps) for Debian/Ubuntu.

• Trap cleanup on signals (flush/sync before exit).

Changed

• Dependency checks tightened; clearer guidance; optional auto-install.
• Partition creation standardizes on 1MiB start; MBR type set via sfdisk; GPT msftdata flag set via parted.
• Label handling: RANDOM generator (A–Z0–9) or CUSTOM (sanitized, upcased, ≤11 chars).
• Exit codes clarified: 0 success, 2 when verification fails under --strict.
• Output styling consolidated under info/warn/die; color can be disabled with --no-color.

Fixed

• Race conditions after partitioning by adding multiple re-read paths + MMC rescan.
• Correct SPC calculation for mkexfatfs when sector size ≠ 512.
• Accurate handling of pre-partition gap for both MBR and GPT disks.
• Ensured verification respects --skip-wipe (reports SKIP; only FAILs in --strict).

AFDW v1.2.0

First public release of AFDW (Anti-Forensic Drive Wiper).

• Securely wipe drives with forensic plausible deniability
• Choice of high entropy uninitialized noise from end to end, or factory-fresh zero's
• Attempts on-board discard/trim secure erase commands, else perform zero run
• Built-in safety checks and confirmations
• Clean Bash script, easy to run on Linux
• Full log file with time stamps, confirming every aspect of wipe and anti-forensic features