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Erasing data before disposing of hard drives
Before one discards a hard drive, I gathwr there are utilities out there such that they write ZEROS ( or ones) to every sector, so the data cannot be recovered.
QUESTION 1 - why is not sufficient to simply delete/erase the partition?
QUESTION 2 - Above methods are fine for when one can physically connect a current drive to a failry recent drive to a fairly recent machine (ie SATA connectors on each), but I have some old hard DELL drives. removed from old computers( long gone), that I held onto to discrad properly. Is there way of doing this?? Som ideas to date:
-I hears hammers and fireplaces actualy are not that thorough!
-I happen to have an old open-reel tape demagnitizer ( at least I think I do), Would that work?
-Another option, perhaps those services that do shredding take hard drives???? .. but I am also reluctant as how do you really know some employee isnt going to hack the drive?
-Other??
ejn63
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October 16th, 2011 12:00
1. Because deleting/erasing the partition doens't actually remove the data. Even a single-pass of formatting can be undone by someone intent on recovering data from the drive.
2. You can put the older EIDE drives in an external case to wipe them out, or as you note, physically destroy the media - open the drive, remove the platter(s) and sand the surface with sandpaper. The rest can simply be recycled.
A demagnetizer will work but unless you have a high-strength magnet, you'll have to open the drive to get it close enough to the media to have any effect.
Sheldon G
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October 16th, 2011 12:00
Putting older IDE/EIDE drives in a SATA case is a great idea... like that one... as it leaves the software solutions open.
So, on that note, what utilities, or native windows apps, can effectivtly to this , ie effectively erase / zero-out a drive?
rdunnill
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October 16th, 2011 12:00
The Acronis TrueImage bootable DVD has a utility to securely wipe discs. You can get a copy from Newegg, Amazon, and other reputable online vendors.
shesagordie
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October 16th, 2011 13:00
Sheldon G
Opening the hard drive's case and destroying the platters, work's well.
Bev.
Jay6600
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October 16th, 2011 18:00
yes i wouldnt just wipe several times then sleep reasured anything wasnt recoverable,,i recent gave a laptop some1 i know but replaced the hdd with new 1 then destroyed old 1 with a plasma cutter whic
h was fun but rather smokey :-)
rdunnill
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October 16th, 2011 23:00
I'm taking courses in computer forensics, and the advice from the instructors is that TrueImage-type utilities is sufficient in nearly all cases. Once data is overwritten even once, specialized and very expensive technology is required for recovery.
muto
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October 17th, 2011 15:00
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speedstep
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October 17th, 2011 18:00
DBAN works.
White Canyon Wipedrive works.
muto
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October 17th, 2011 19:00
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speedstep
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October 18th, 2011 06:00
Dban is free.
DBAN Download | Darik's Boot And Nuke
http://www.dban.org/download
White Canyon wipe drive is available in stores like Best Buy etc.
White Canyon is Approved by The DoD 5220.22M standard for doing the required 3 x 1's and Zero's
Which is Better? WipeDrive or WipeDrive System Saver?
It depends on how you want to erase your hard drive.
In summary, if you want everything permanently erased from the hard drive, use WipeDrive.
If you want everything (documents, pictures, etc) but you want your operating system and programs left intact, you should use WipeDrive System Saver to erase the hard drive. In fact, WipeDrive System saver is the only erase hard drive tool in the world that completely overwrites all your data but can leave the operating system intact!
Secure Erase is also free.
Secure Erase
Disk Drive Secure Erase for User Data
Download Freeware Secure Erase Utility
ReadMe
Secure Erase Q & A
G.F. Hughes, D.M. Commins, and T. Coughlin, “Disposal of disk and tape data by secure sanitization,” IEEE Security and Privacy, Vol. 7, No. 4, (July/August 2009), pp. 29-34. [PDF ucsd only]
CMRR does not provide technical support for this program.
NIST 800-88 recommends Secure Erase.
muto
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October 18th, 2011 07:00
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