Best way to wipe a HDD drive clean?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best way to wipe a HDD drive clean?

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:42:08 AM EDT

Ok, I've got a PC that I need to wipe the HDD clean, but I can't use the format option in Windows since the drive I want to wipe out is the only drive in the PC and Windoze is installed on it. So, how do I do it?

Thanks,
Kris

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:44:27 AM EDT

[#1]

C:\>f disk

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:45:45 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:
C:\>f disk

How do I get to a C:\ without going through Windows? If the drive is being used, it won't let me format it.

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:45:55 AM EDT

[#3]

dban.sourceforge.net/

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:48:39 AM EDT

[#4]

Stick you windows CD in the CD tray, turn on your computer and follow directions on how to install the OS. Then reformate your HDD in the process.

Sgat1r5

Posted: 7/31/2005 8:50:38 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Quoted:
C:\>f disk

How do I get to a C:\ without going through Windows? If the drive is being used, it won't let me format it.

Find an bootable version of DOS and boot from that.

ETA:
CREATING A WINDOWS XP BOOT DISK

Create MS-DOS bootable diskette

When formatting a floppy diskette users have the option of creating a MS-DOS startup disk, follow the below steps to do this.

1.

Place diskette in the computer.
2.

Open My Computer and right click the A: drive and click Format.
3.

In the Format window check Create an MS-DOS startup disk.
4.

Click Start

Posted: 7/31/2005 9:03:45 AM EDT

[#6]

Format will not wipe a hard drive. See taptap's post and use Darik's Boot and Nuke.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:02:40 AM EDT

[#7]

Gently take hold of the disk drive and with a screwdriver pry it out of the mount and then take it to the range and ventilate it with some .223 and .308

As of note a .22 and .45 will not punch through to remove old data

edit for more technical info

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:12:19 AM EDT

[#8]

find out what kind of harddrive you have.. go to that manufactors web page. they usually provide hardrive utilities to test and diagnose harddrive. most of them are bootable floppys or now iso images(to put on a cd).. they usualy include a low level format utility. not all do

edit to say:

if your computer didn't come with recovery cds. reboot teh computer and push f10 a couple times and it will walk you through reinstalling windows... typical on hp, compaq, and some others.

Posted: 7/31/2005 10:16:15 AM EDT

[#9]

Just formating a HD won't get rid of the data that is on it already. There are programs(aka utilities) that can bring them back. What you need is a software that will write hex 1s & 0s on the drive, I think NSA requires something over-write hex 1s & 0s five times. From what I've heard some people with sophisticated equipment can still bring back data, don't know how but I've heard it can be done.

Posted: 7/31/2005 3:14:48 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Just formating a HD won't get rid of the data that is on it already. There are programs(aka utilities) that can bring them back. What you need is a software that will write hex 1s & 0s on the drive, I think NSA requires something over-write hex 1s & 0s five times. From what I've heard some people with sophisticated equipment can still bring back data, don't know how but I've heard it can be done.

From what I've read, the NSA uses electron scan microscopes to get the data from the platters.
They can pretty much get what they're after.
Platters are now made of glass with a ferric coating on them.
If you have data that you don't want anyone else to see, grind them into dust,
then, melt whats left.

Posted: 7/31/2005 3:19:26 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Just formating a HD won't get rid of the data that is on it already. There are programs(aka utilities) that can bring them back. What you need is a software that will write hex 1s & 0s on the drive, I think NSA requires something over-write hex 1s & 0s five times. From what I've heard some people with sophisticated equipment can still bring back data, don't know how but I've heard it can be done.

From what I've read, the NSA uses electron scan microscopes to get the data from the platters.
They can pretty much get what they're after.
Platters are now made of glass with a ferric coating on them.
If you have data that you don't want anyone else to see, grind them into dust,
then, melt whats left.

Yepper, smash and then melt. After that, you are clean. But then again, what are you hiding anyway. NSA's got a better porn stash than you.

Posted: 7/31/2005 6:17:04 PM EDT

[#12]

Search for a program called DBAN, do a DOD wipe.

Posted: 7/31/2005 6:19:10 PM EDT

[#13]

GDisk does the DoD wipe too - it's bootable from a 3.5" floppy drive.

Posted: 7/31/2005 6:19:34 PM EDT

[#14]

the program called Tannerite has worked in the past.

Posted: 7/31/2005 6:20:19 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Search for a program called DBAN, do a DOD wipe.

Taptap quoted it: dban.sourceforge.net/

Seriously, if you really want to prevent people from being able to recover data from your drive, short of physically destroying it, dban (Darik's Boot and Nuke) or the equivalent is the only answer.

Fdisking and formatting are all going to keep out the average user. But there are people or agencies who could still recover a significant portion of what you have on the drive.

It all depends on your level of paranoia. I like dban, as it is a repetitively-overwriting system that follows some protocol that I think off the top of my head is a DOD specification.

Jim

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Best way to wipe a HDD drive clean?

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