fjoker30

Ok, I know how to delete all the files,cookies and all that good stuff through your simple ways. But how do you really clean your computer drive up. How do you delete the stuff permently so that no one can get the stuff. I am no computer expert so I need the stuff in english. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cynthetiq

IMHO, you can't. You can try to and you can try to use the Department Of Defense (DOD) standard but a good person can still find traces of your information.

Only way to really make sure it's gone is to destroy the metal platters.

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Dilbert1234567

you can just format it 10+ times (full format) and that will get amost all of it, unless you'r hidding from some one with lots of money (ie govt) then you must also deconstruct the HD (with a hammer) and take the disk and gring them up with a gringer (powder) and spread the powder all over the state

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BoCo

Just over-write the entire drive with like 20 copies of some movie. It'll over-write all the exsisting data and replace it with the movie instead.

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b1m2x3

format c:

Ambition

If you need to really hide the stuff and not use the drive again, get a really powerful magnet and place is on the HD and continously move it around for extend periods of time.... vou-a-la instand dead drive

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Crimson

fjoker30:

Can you afford to format the drive?

If so there are software solutions out there for home users like you

Everyone else:
Quit with the jerky answers

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fjoker30

ok, like I said I am stupid.....how do your reformat the c drive?

oblar

Formating with just a quick format won't truly get rid of the data, it just allows files to overwrite what was previously there.

the easiest and quickest way to destroy the data without destroying the drive (e.g. using a hammer) would be to write 0's across the entire drive.

There are lots of tools to do this. One being Western Digitals Digital Lifeguard Tools. You can download it from their site.. Not sure if it works with all drives or just WD ones though.

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Big Julie

Awww....

I was gonna suggest putting it in an autoclave to guarantee sterility....

Zello

The quickest way I have heard of was what Boco suggested. Just make a massive file to fill up your hardrive then delete the file. Repeat multiple times if you are really worried about the data.

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JStrider

i know a guy that does data recovery stuff and computer/network security for a living... to incriminate people and to help recover lost files... he said his group of people were able to recover data from a fire damaged drive... and from drives formated 10+ times...he said the only way to truly destroy ALL of what was on the drive is to physically destroy the platters beyond recognition...

but the more you format and overwrite files the lower the recovery rate is...if all you do is a quick format then they can get a 100% recovery... but if youve formatted and over written they can only get like 50%

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Ashton

Step #1 Remove drive

Ashton

Step #2 Take careful aim

Ashton

Ta Da!

Ashton

Lets see anyone get that data now!

flesheater

Ashton has the correct answer!

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The_Dude

format it a couple of times

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Dilbert1234567

you cant just use the same file to write to the hard drive, it is easy to trace which file it was and back track to what it used to be.

if you cant format, write a program in VB (or c++ if you can) that writes random text files till it fills up the drive and repeat a lot, stressing that it must be random, just copying the same file will not work very well. further what do you need to get rid of?

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b1m2x3

holy shit ashton that rocks!

heyal256

My favorite method of cleaning your hard drive is at this link http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/cleandrive1.html

Seriously tho, if i remeber correctly, the DOD method is to randomly write a series of 1's and 0's across the whole drive 7 times, and then incinerate the drive with napalm or something. I forgot where i read that but, this is how they make sure that nothing can be recovered from the drive.

The normal way that I would clean my drive would be to just to do a format and reinstall of the OS. (so fdisk, format c:, then install os from the cd)

spankthru

now that ashton has shot it, ya might want to smash it with a hammer, grind it up, melt the particles back int a block, shred it up again, and bury it across the country. now nobody "should" get your data.

spankthru

ok, so if you want to really get everything off of your drive, and don't want to destroy it, check out this aritcle at <a href="http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/answerstips/story/0,24330,3418249,00.html" target="_blank">TheScreenSavers.com</a>

Freakasaurus

If you have access to Norton Ghost, it has the option to do a DOD (Department of Defence) wipe. It formats the drive and writes different values to the entire drive. You can set how many passes of writing it does.

Short of destroying the drive, it should take care of the problem.

KBilly

Sweet pictures!

I think Spybot has an option to get rid of something for good. I'm not sure how good it works though.

MSD

If you think that the DoD is really secure, try buying computers from them at a surplus/junk auction. run something like FinalData on the drive and see how much national security you can see. Sometimes they don't even bother toe delete it.


I touch neodymium magnets to the case of the drive at several points, then format it a few times, and most drives still work after that, minus the data.

scapegoat

The only program that ive seen that deletes things to DOD specs is somthing called evedince Eleminator.
http://www.evidence-eliminator.com/product.d2w

ive never used it nor tried it, but they sure do want a pretty penny for it.

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kulit

low-level format, zero-fill, fdisk, format. done twice, a friend who does data recovery had a hard time and was only able to get about 10% of original data, which itself was garbled, jumbled, and therefore almost useless.

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txd

To erase files and securely wipe free space in windows I would suggest using :
eraser - http://www.heidi.ie/eraser

To securely wipe the entire contents of your hdd I would go for:
Dban - http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Both are free and do a decent job. Eraser gives you the option of various wiping levels wile dban only does the 35pass Gutmann method[0] (accept no substitutes

[0] http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ecure_del.html

KillerYoda

Gerades format der alte antrieb einige male. Ich bin nichts bin wirkungsvolles 100% recht sicher, aber ichwAR nicht in der lage, zu viel zurückzugewinnen. Sie wünschen die gehirnaffen und nicht beginnen, ihren verstand zu rauben oben zeigen. Sie tun ihn, dann laden sie für ihn auf.
My bad...just format the old drive a few times. I'm pretty sure nothing is 100% effective, but I wasn't able to recover too much. I wanted to completely erase any evidence of me ever using Windows ME.

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txd

Doing the following

1) install win98
2) format hdd
3) install freebsd
4) format hdd
5) format hdd

I have been able to recover files from the win98 install (and the freeBSD one).

So the moral of the story is, don't rely on format to securely delete files off a hdd.

duckduck

format c: /u if your just gonna reinstall.

For avoiding criminal charges, I'd say incinerate it.

Though, Ashton has a rather nifty idea, too

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bbb

What about programs like window washer that will clean and over write files of your choosing.

cheese

this is a better artical http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/h...416110,00.html

Spyder_Venom

Harddrive degousers

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MMM-A

Ok, no flip answer this time:

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/


Uses the Guttmann (Default), Pseudorandom Data and US DoD 5220-22.M methods.

TrollInvestigtr

here is the correct answer
http://www.jetico.com/index.htm#/bcwipe.htm

billcollins

Use a damp cloth

demon

the way with the rifle really works wonders but persay your not going to blow the hell out of the hd, writing 1 and 0 to the entire thing a couple times will eradicate everything, its also a way to sometimes fix corrupt sectors

bogosj12

Simple little application that conforms to DOD 5220.22-M sanitizing standard that you can securely delete either one file, recursivly a directory, or wipe your clean space.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/sdelete.shtml