A Word About Backups; Red Hat Enterprise Linux-Specific Information; Device Naming Conventions - Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 3 - INTRODUCTION TO SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION Administration Manual

Chapter 5. Managing Storage
On the other hand, if the data is still being used, then the data should reside on the system most
appropriate for that usage. Of course, if this is the case, perhaps it would be easiest to move the data
by reinstalling the disk drive on the new system. If you do this, you should make a full backup of
the data before doing so — people have dropped disk drives full of valuable data (losing everything)
while doing nothing more hazardous than walking across a data center.
5.7.4.2.2. Erase the Contents of the Disk Drive
No matter whether the disk drive has valuable data or not, it is a good idea to always erase a disk
drive's contents prior to reassigning or relinquishing control of it. While the obvious reason is to
make sure that no sensitive information remains on the disk drive, it is also a good time to check the
disk drive's health by performing a read-write test for bad blocks over the entire drive.
Important
Many companies (and government agencies) have specific methods of erasing data from disk drives
and other data storage media. You should always be sure you understand and abide by these require-
ments; in many cases there are legal ramifications if you fail to do so. The example above should in
no way be considered the ultimate method of wiping a disk drive.
In addition, organizations that work with classified data may find that the final disposition of the disk
drive may be subject to certain legally-mandated procedures (such as physical destruction of the
drive). In these instances your organization's security department should be able to offer guidance in
this matter.

5.8. A Word About Backups. . .

One of the most important factors when considering disk storage is that of backups. We have not
covered this subject here, because an in-depth section (Section 8.2 Backups) has been dedicated to
backups.
5.9. Red Hat Enterprise Linux-Specific Information
Depending on your past system administration experience, managing storage under Red Hat Enter-
prise Linux is either mostly familiar or completely foreign. This section discusses aspects of storage
administration specific to Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

5.9.1. Device Naming Conventions

As with all Linux-like operating systems, Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses device files to access all
hardware (including disk drives). However, the naming conventions for attached storage devices varies
somewhat between various Linux and Linux-like implementations. Here is how these device files are
named under Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
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