Cleaning up hard drive

[fancy pants]

1- If I delete sensitive files from my hard drive and run a defrag, will that sufficiently wipe the data for good?

2- Does re-formatting a hard drive erase data permanently?

3- Best option/software?


--------Thanks in advance--------

[djc33]

I'm sure you will get better responses than mine, but here goes.

1) I don't think that will totally kill your files.
2) I believe a "low level" format will do what you need.
3) I can't remember the command for low level formatting, but it will be built into your system. You will need to make a system disk and copy the necessary files to the disk.

You should be able to find additional information on low level formatting by going to the MicroSoft or IBM sites.

Good Luck,
djc33

[azjoe]

If you want ALL possibilities of data recovery (eg, by scientific investigators) taken care of, DESTROY the disk. It's the only absolutely foolproof way!!! But, if you just want destruction that the "average" snoop can't crack, you might try one of the utilities that pretty much destroy all traces of deleted data... Eraser is one that's freeware (available from several sites... tolvanen is their home site) that I've used, but there are a number of other's.

[krazie1999lc]

i believe the best way to do it involves a bucket and about a gallon of acid :)

[2gapa]

Download and install PGP freeware - It includes a file wiper that allows you to select the number of overwrites.

[aborne]

Fancypants, Your question is how do I format the hard disk so no data can ever be recovered.
The only safe for sure way is to destroy the Drive as; krazie1999lc & azjoe have already posted their suggestions.
You would be certain then, but if you want you can try some of the aforementioned programs, but remember it's not fool proof!
Hope this helps.

[quaddawg]

I have to add my two cents here.

I formatted a hard drive, only to discover I had formatted the WRONG drive and wiped out my files (I had added a hard drive and formatted the wrong one) I took it to a data recovery guy I know, and he got back 90 percent of everything I thought was gone, so......If it is sensitive data, bite the bullet and DESTROY IT!. My friend told me that you could format the drive, fill it up COMPLETELY (no easy task in itself), and then format it again. He said that would keep most people out of the first set of data, but it still wasn't foolproof.

quaddout!

[2gapa]

Ultimately, all you are dealing with is magnetized rust on a metal platter. If you write over the same area that the data is stored in at least eight times, the original magnetic pattern will be too far gone to be picked up by any reasonable technique. Formatting does not destroy data. It only rebuilds the shelves within the room so to speak without touching the storage space. The directory entries and allocation tables will be destroyed, but the raw data is for the most part intact. Get a file overwriter that will write random data to the areas occupied by the original file at least eight times (sixteen if you are paranoid). This will keep anyone from getting their hands on your porn. :)

[fancy pants]

I read recently that when you reformat your drive it does not necessarily wipe the files for good, like you guys suggested. I always thought it did (live and learn).

Isn't deleting a file(s) and then defragging similar to reformatting a hard drive?

--------

For those who are worried about the FBI or whoever busting down your door and taking your computer, I would assume that if they expend that much effort, they will likely have the resources/means to pull whatever info they want off your hard drive, deleted/wiped or not.


Thanx all for the responses!

[dog01]

Fancy Pants,

Defraging the hard drive doesn't format it at all, it just moves info around in a more logical order. As your drive fills up, DOS writes bits and pieces of files to different areas and just remembers where it stored them all. Running defrag moves all the bits and pieces to sequential order. This will write over info sometimes but no sure thing.

In reference to the low level format, there isn't a low level format for IDE drives. You can run FDISK, but I had a guy recently run my noise in the fact that that does not erase the drive just erase the partions.

I was in the Navy for a long while and the top secret stuff, we ran a program that wrote all 1's then all 0's then all 1's again. Then they ran it through an industrial shredder. That was fairly certain.

Sorry about the long post, studing for my A+ certification and all this stuff is floating around in my head.