does deleting partitions, making a new and formatting a drive erase ALL data?

[damac]

I was just wondering if a format erases everything from a hard disk so that even those gurus couldn't pick it apart and find old files under another format?

i see these dumb programs that claim they can do it, then I thought I read somewhere that a format doesn't erase anything so Im confused. is their a clear answer?

 

[Adul]

You can still recover data even after a format. Though they are programs that can make this near imppossible for anyone to recover your files.

 

[esung]

deleting partion just erase the parition information, formating the drive only deleting the drive's file allocation information. it didn't physically erase the information.

most HD manufacture has a reset utility that'll over write all the drives and reset the drive to factory conditions. although this won't protect you from the big brothers (NSA, FBI....) since it's still possible to recover data..

 

[SSP]

You could zero fill your drive. Check your drive manufacture site for the program. This erase everything including partitions.

 

[hominid skull]

In norton utilities, there is a utility called wipeinfo, that either writes all 1's or all 0's to the hard disk - i can't remeber.

As people have said a format doesn't phically get rid of the data for the disk, so you can still look at the disk and 'see' what's on there.

 

[JohnnyD]

I have heard that to completely remove all traces of your data from a hard drive, something has to be written and erased from it at least 16 times otherwise it is still possible to recover data.

 

[jj1492]

To actually erase data, you will need to write zeros to the drive like what was said above. I have also heard that a drive needs to be zeroed and written to a number of times before the data is unrecoverable.

 

[huggis]

Naa...
If you write zero´s to your harddrive one time, there must be some extreme recovery agency to actually recover anything from that drive! Write zeor´s one time and you can rest assured that no ordinary data freak can recover that...

 

[SUOrangeman]

WipeInfo (mentioned above) has a '-g' flag that allows the program to meet the government's standard for wiping classified disks. Typically, the requirement is to wipe the drive three times. Although, I've seen folks at work use BCWipe recently as well.

-SUO

 

[jamarno]

A nearby U.S. Army base sends their old HDs through a grinder, after erasing them.