How do I clean a hard drive?

[LLB]

Is it really that simple?

you can always back your personal stash up before you restore the drive Patrick

 

[Smokin Joe]

Is it really that simple?

No.

Anything you have put on the drive will be there and recoverable until it is overwritten. Re-formatting or Re-installing the operating system will not erase data beyond recovery.

Google the subject and you will find loads of information on it.

 

[LLB]

No.

Anything you have put on the drive will be there and recoverable until it is overwritten. Re-formatting or Re-installing the operating system will not erase data beyond recovery.

Google the subject and you will find loads of information on it.

Deleting the primary partition and creating a new one will remove everything Joe.

Writing a new image to the drive will have the same effect.

The restore disks use symantec ghost to do this. The software doesn't even look at the data it writes off the iso image files.
It is just like ripping a dvd or cd with clone CD

 

[Sittingduck]

If the HDD falls into the hands of the type of folk who will search for information and use it for fraud etc, they WILL get the data, regardless of formatting and OS re-installation.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

is this a porno thing?

 

[magnatom]

I generally take them close to an MRI scanner (holding it very carefully of course).

Of course not every has access to one of these....

 

[Gerry Attrick]

To be sure, you need something like http://www.webroot.co.uk/En_GB/land-ww-uk.html

There are plenty of other similar progs. (to be PC).

 

[jonesy]

I think you should take off and nuke the entire disk from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

 

[LLB]

If the HDD falls into the hands of the type of folk who will search for information and use it for fraud etc, they WILL get the data, regardless of formatting and OS re-installation.

I always considered Ghost or Fdisk and a reformat to be watertight, but I've just done a bit of digging and there are a couple of utilities on the market which can undo them if the sectors haven't been overwritten.

If the drive is ghosted and then defragged, it is a secure method of sorting it though as it does rewrite the sectors as it goes.

 

[muller]

Google DBAN. It writes random stuff to every sector. Your data is gone for good.

 

[derall]

On my USB Stick I have a copy of Eraser Portable which does for individual files, and DBAN to do complete volumes

 

[jay clock]

Thanks for all the help. Reinstalling Windows is a non starter as I have no disks etc, and if I destroy the drive I have not really got a saleable laptop.

I will try the software you suggested

Oh, and yes, I have deleted the recycle bin. Crap Cleaner is good at removing that and all the temporary internet cache etc.

 

[cheadle hulme]

I set fire to mine and then threw it in the canal.

Nobody should have to look at that kind of filth.

 

[yenrod]

I would feel the only way to totally wipe a HD is to destroy it in some way i even had a mate who went thru a heavy mobile porn stage - he hammered it to death when he wanted rid of it!

Same'd be the case for a HD for me personally IF you'd done some porn searching on it !

 

[spandex]

the safest way is to take a hammer to it. They are cheap to replace.

Around £40 for a 80gig