How do you wipe a hard-drive

[sciencewhiz]

I have a hard-drive that used to contain sensitive data. How do I wipe the data so that it is very hard to recover the data from it. I want to do more than just format it. Is there a program that will write zeros to the disk or does something else to cover the data after formatting?

Thanks for you help.

 

[konichiwa]

Low-level formatting will write all 0's to a drive. Your drive may have came with a low level formatting utility...if not I don't know where you can get one. I think someone here will know...

 

[Auric]

PGP 658 from NAI includes a free space wiper. I don't know if it is included in the freeware version. There are many programs that will do this in some form or another though maybe not as securely. Check the HD manufacturer's site. IBM has some available.

 

[medic]

BCWipe is one:

http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,000FK5,.html

I have heard some on this board say that a format with the /u unconditional switch will erase it.

 

[Mark R]

The freeware PGP definitely includes the disk free space wiper.

It's effective, but very slow.

I think 'Eraser' by Sami Tolvanen is good. It supports proven secure deletion methods, in particular Gutmann which is believed to be one of the best. It's also got loads of good features.

http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/

 

[Crypticburn]

If you want to write zero's to a hard drive, I would suggest getting the program from the manufacturer.... just an idea!

 

[sciencewhiz]

Thanks for all your help!

The hard-drive in question is a Maxtor 71050AT 1 gig. I found a utility on maxtor's site that does a low-level format of the 7000 series that are 500 MB or lower but not for this drive.

I'll take a look at these utilities and report what I find.

 

[dmark]

See IBM for Zap & Wipe which work with any drive. Maxtor & WD also have utilities similar to Wipe that work with all their drives.

 

[dmark]

Forgot the link.

http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/welcome.htm

 

[sciencewhiz]

linkified: http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/welcome.htm

wipe is the kind of program I was looking for originally. I'm trying Erasor now.

 

[Dave]

Norton Utilities has a "wipe disk" function ....

 

[JackMDS]

Evidence Eliminator v5.052


http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,0012R3,.html

 

[EvilDonnyboy]

can't you just format in dos? fdisk?

 

[Yza]

BIG MAGNET!!!!

 

[sciencewhiz]

Paulson etc,

all fdisk (high-level format, delete etc.) does is delete the reference to the files. The files are still on the hard-drive magnetically. It would be very easy for someone to still read the data, if they wanted to.

The link for Erasor http://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/ has some more information on this.

I guess Erasor puts much more strain on the disk than windows normally does, I started getting many read and write errors once I started using it. I'll try it again in the morning to see if the disk is bad or not.

YZA: ROTFL
but, I still want to use it.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[lowtech1]

Low level format it would do it, but del a few files and then defrag the puter then xcopy over the entire drive would do it too.

If you?re really paranoid, then fdisk your hdd and change its current format such as FAT, to FAT32, NTFS or EXT2, after the above step/steps

After changing the file format of your hdd and write over the entire surface...0nly short of God could recover your information.

You could then magnetize it, smashed it with a slegde hammer, throw it in a fire, and then soak it in an acid bath...Even God couldn?t recover the info at this point

 

[Mark R]

After changing the file format of your hdd and write over the entire surface...0nly short of God could recover your information

Data recovery companies regularly recover data which has been erased in this way.

At least one claims to have recovered data that was completely overwritten 9 (nine) times.

Minor fire or flood damage isn't too much of a problem for them either. One claims to have recovered a flood damaged hard drive that was shipped to them in a bucket of water (to prevent further damage by drying).

 

[Caitiff]

I've always used DEBUG to wipe drives. Many times I've come across 'wasted' drives that just had one of those instant partioning s/w utilities on it that fdisk won't touch. There are 2 scripts that I use, one is a quickie debug, that only re-allocates the fat section of the hdd, the other wipes the whole drive be re-allocating it all. THEN I use some other program to write zero's to the drive. I understand that the data might still be recovered, but as soon as you write on it, it gets harder and harder to retreive. The idea is that the original write to the disk leaves a magneto-resistive image UNDER the currently written image. Imagine a piece of paper that you write on w/ a pencil. You then erase it, and write over the same spot. It is still possible to see some of what was there originally. Now, take and erase and rewrite again and again to the same spot. You will NOT be able to recover the original image. Not even the FBI will be able to recover data from a disk that has been DEBUGGED 3 or 4 times, then had zero's written to it each time.

 

[downhiller80]

sledge hammer & flame thrower does wonders

Seb

 

[Eli]

What kind of sensitive information is on it?

 

[lowtech1]

<< At least one claims to have recovered data that was completely overwritten 9 (nine) times. >>



This company is full of sh!t, because changing the file format will change your curent block size (if I remember correctly diff hdd block format could be some where between 4k~1024k), and combine with a new writen info on the hdd it is imposible to know which format it was from. This method is even better than low level format, because your info and format is scrambled.





<< Minor fire or flood damage isn't too much of a problem for them either. One claims to have recovered a flood damaged hard drive that was shipped to them in a bucket of water (to prevent further damage by drying). >>



Head to disk distance is about 10 micron, and it will distroy the head if there were any partical atach it self on the surface(dust partical = 200 micron, human hair = 100 micron). If water make it in to the plater chamber then the hdd is toast, because of oxidation.

It is a common practice to recover electronic equipment by leaving it in a bucket of fresh water to prevent it from getting more dust and slow down the oxidation process (I have recovered camera &amp; lens after it droped into a river). The moving part is what you woried about, because it will ceases due to dust, or oxidation. Most of the recovery is done by spraying the water off with can air, and then let it sit to dry for 24 hours. Sometime the recovery goes as far as dusting the electronic part with some kind of gas (such as lighter fluid) to make sure all water is off the part.

 

[apoppin]

From what I understand, there is NO way to completely &quot;wipe&quot; all the information off a hard drive short of physically destroying it.

It CAN be recovered - for example - by Government Agencies - that are willing to spend the technology, time and money to do it.

EDIT: Check out Secure Clean (FREE Time Limit Demo - I think it will rewrite up to 50 times) and other tools for the paranoid at:

http://www.accessdata.com/

 

[sciencewhiz]

I just don't want it to be easy to recover the data. I just don't want it to be easy for someone like Caitiff to get the data easily.

I'm still getting read/write errors, so maybe a flamethrower and sledgehammer is the only option

BTW this is only accounting data that was moved to a larger hard-drive, if the FBI wants the data, they can have it.

 

[apoppin]

No problem. Any of the disc wiping freeware or shareware will do a good job. SecureClean linked above will allow you to try it for free and it's a good produce (by a Data Recovery Company).

An Internet Search gave me many options. Just be careful as some of the freeware can mess up your O/S.

 

[Eli]

lowtech- I suggest you research a little more. It is extremely difficult to completely wipe out your data. Of course, they don't try and use the harddrive to do it. They take it apart, load the platters onto special machines, and if necessary, reconstruct the data by reading over and over and over again..