I found two SSDs infected with ransomware and want to avoid mounting them in Windows. I booted Trixie from a live USB and need to erase both drives, which currently appear as /dev/sdd with two partitions, /dev/sdd1 and /dev/sdd2. I would like to inspect the files first and possibly preserve the encrypted pictures for future recovery, then completely wipe the SSDs before reusing them with a Windows PC. GParted would not install because the system reported "Unable to locate package gparted." Is there another graphical or command-line way to remove the partitions and securely erase the drives?
3 Answers
The package error may simply mean the live session was offline. Enable networking first, refresh the package lists, and then try installing GParted again. Once the connection was enabled, GParted installed normally and was able to handle the two partitions. For a complete erase, verify the device name carefully before using any disk-wiping or repartitioning operation, since the command will destroy all data on the selected drive.
If you only need a partitioning tool, GParted Live, Rescuezilla, or SystemRescue are alternatives that can boot independently from USB. They are useful when the regular live session does not have the required packages. Keep the infected drives disconnected or unmounted while deciding what data to save, and remember that ransomware-encrypted files may still be unreadable even if their names and extensions look normal.
The encrypted files kept their original names and folders but were changed to a `.dewd` extension. Renaming them back only produces gibberish, so they appear to be encrypted rather than merely renamed.
Trixie’s live environment may already include GNOME Disks, which can inspect, unmount, repartition, and format drives. You can also launch it from a terminal with `gnome-disks` if it is installed. Before deleting anything, copy the files you want to preserve to a separate drive and make absolutely sure you have selected the correct SSD.
That turned out to be the issue. After enabling the internet connection in Trixie, GParted installed successfully and I used it to wipe the SSDs.