Strix Disk Cleaner

Securely and irreversibly erase an entire disk — with a multi-layer safety shield that makes it impossible to wipe your system disk by mistake. Targets NIST SP 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M. Offline, no telemetry.

⚠️ This tool destroys data permanently and cannot be undone. Read the safety section before use. Always double-check the target device.

Part of the open-source Strix Advanced Tools suite.

Editions

• Windows — a WPF GUI (StrixDiskCleaner.ps1) with a 5-layer protection shield, hardware-capability detection (NVMe/ATA/TCG-Opal, hidden HPA/DCO areas), SMART health, post-wipe repartition/format/TRIM, and a printable destruction certificate.
• Linux — strixwipe, a command-line eraser built on the same safety philosophy: a pure, unit-tested protection shield that refuses the root disk and any mounted disk, hardware sanitize (blkdiscard / nvme sanitize / hdparm) or multi-pass overwrite, and a typed-confirmation gauntlet. CLI-only by design — never one accidental click away.

Safety model

• The system disk can never be selected. On both platforms the disk holding the OS / root filesystem is detected and excluded. On Linux, any disk with a mounted partition is refused (unmount it first).
• Typed confirmation. You must type the exact device path and the word ERASE, and (Linux) pass --yes-really-erase. There is a re-check immediately before writing (defeats device-renumbering / TOCTOU).
• SSD honesty. On flash, overwriting is unreliable (wear levelling); the tool steers you to hardware sanitize (blkdiscard / nvme sanitize) instead.

Installation

Windows

Install with the setup wizard (StrixDiskCleaner-Setup-*.exe from Releases) or run the script directly. A single UAC prompt is required (raw disk access needs admin). Details and the signing story: docs/install-windows.md and windows/installer/README-PACKAGING.md.

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)

sudo apt install ./strix-disk-cleaner_1.0.0_all.deb   # from Releases
# or from source:
sudo ./linux/install.sh

strixwipe list                                         # safe: list disks + erasable state
sudo strixwipe info /dev/sdX
sudo strixwipe erase /dev/sdX --method blkdiscard --yes-really-erase

Test it safely on a loopback device first (no real disk touched):

truncate -s 256M /tmp/t.img
sudo losetup -f --show /tmp/t.img          # e.g. /dev/loop0
sudo strixwipe erase /dev/loop0 --method zero --yes-really-erase
sudo losetup -d /dev/loop0

See docs/usage-linux.md.

Security & safety

Full threat model, the protection-shield details, and the erase-method guidance are in SECURITY.md. The Linux safety shield is covered by unit tests (tests/test_safety.py) that assert it refuses the root/mounted disks.

License

MIT © 2026 Strix Advanced Tools. Use only on disks you own. You are responsible for what you erase.