sniper Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 ok, so I'm no computer dunce. I've built my own computer, am able to hack into installers to make them run on xp X64 and do lots of other things, but I can't figure this out.Does anybody know how to completely wipe a hard drive? I'm gonna sell 2 hard drives on ebay and both may have had information on them (I can't remember). I've completely reformated and installed windows, but from what I've read, that's not enough.Anybody got anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 oh yes, sorry for the double post, I forgot to mention that when installing windows, I used the backup disc set provided by best buy that takes it back to original factory specs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 low-level format Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X-Gamer Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 How to completely wipe a hard drive huh?Well you could always smash it to bits. I think that would take out the memory. If not, try holding a strong magnet against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Quote How to completely wipe a hard drive huh?Well you could always smash it to bits. I think that would take out the memory. If not, try holding a strong magnet against it.He wants to clear the files on the drive, not destroy the drive itself ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asper Sarnoff Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Quote That always works xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conaly Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Hi,you need an "eraser" (also called "shredder" or "wiper"). Eraser programs overwrite the HDD as often as they can with unreadable data, so that it will be impossible to restore real data from the HDD. I don't know whether and which free- or payware programs are good or not, but I think Google will help you finding a program.If you want to know, how it really works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_erasure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Julius Quasar Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Quote ^ Ha ha ha! Good one, Asper! Would reformatting the hard drive work to completely wipe a hard drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabre Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Also, if you are using a backup disc from a shop bought PC, often it will come with a bunch of crap already there. 4eg, my deaf nephues backup disc will install all the anti virus demos and the video call software.Also, it might worth doing a full format like we had to at work. Takes a few hours, but that will destroy every trace of whatevers on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePointingMan Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Quote Also, it might worth doing a full format like we had to at work. Takes a few hours, but that will destroy every trace of whatevers on there.Best answer I've seen, that's what I would suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I used Webroot security drive eraser, you can download window washer (google it) and burn the drive eraser to a disk.That can clear your harddrive completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-Shot Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Magnets... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nysut Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 DBAN is a boot and nuke program that will earse hard drives as well.Or you could get the program called Eraser, which you can run from within windows to clear all the unused space. That should be good enough to clear all remnants of prior data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZComposer Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 DBAN: http://www.dban.org/This sucker will wipe you drive as much as you want. You can do a quick erase, IE just zero it, you can do a DOD 5220.22-M (US Govt. spec), or if you're really paranoid, you can do a Gutmann Wipe (which would likely take a week on a large drive, lol).Burn it to a CD or chunk it on a floppy and boot from it.One thing to note, this program can take a long time to run, depending on wipe method and capacity of drive.BEWARE: One you run it, you can't undo it! Make sure you lablel that disk! Especially if you make it an autonuke disk!Of course, there's always this option:6Fl2qr558WUOn a more serious, but related note, here is how most businesses with sensitive data take care of unneeded HDDs:yd_O7-rqcHcIt goes without saying that if you reduce your HDD to tiny metal fragments, you won't be recovering grandma's pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Quote DBAN: http://www.dban.org/This sucker will wipe you drive as much as you want. You can do a quick erase, IE just zero it, you can do a DOD 5220.22-M (US Govt. spec), or if you're really paranoid, you can do a Gutmann Wipe (which would likely take a week on a large drive, lol).Burn it to a CD or chunk it on a floppy and boot from it.One thing to note, this program can take a long time to run, depending on wipe method and capacity of drive.BEWARE: One you run it, you can't undo it! Make sure you lablel that disk! Especially if you make it an autonuke disk!Of course, there's always this option:On a more serious, but related note, here is how most businesses with sensitive data take care of unneeded HDDs:It goes without saying that if you reduce your HDD to tiny metal fragments, you won't be recovering grandma's pictures.Takes about 4 days to wipe a 250GB HDD using the Guttman method lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 what about a 40 gig and a 80 gig? (yes i have 2 and yes they are that small ) (which is why when I built my desktop i got a 1.5 TB hard drive... FINALLY!! some space!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FoXXX Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 Quote what about a 40 gig and a 80 gig? (yes i have 2 and yes they are that small ) (which is why when I built my desktop i got a 1.5 TB hard drive... FINALLY!! some space!)You want to format a 40 and an 80GB drive? Using the guttman method with that would only take maybe a day if not that.Now 1.5TB drive would probably takes weeks lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 pass 1 of 35 of 40GB hard drive... guttman method estimated completion time.... 16 hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZComposer Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Wow... You're actually doing a Gutmann wipe?A DOD-Short wipe would be enough, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sniper Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 ya I normally wouldn't care, but my parents were paranoid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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