I want to give a company away.
Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean up
all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve it
or view it?

Thanks
Jay.

Sorry, I meant - give a company computer away.

"Jay" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:hPk8b.1585$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I want to give a company away.
> Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean
up
> all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve
it
> or view it?
>
> Thanks
> Jay.
>
>
>

Jay wrote:

> I want to give a company away.
> Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean up
> all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve it
> or view it?

No. To be safe, you should wipe the drive. If it's 8GB or less, try:
http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/wipe.exe

Otherwise, get a linux boot disk:
http://www.toms.net/rb
and issue the command:
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda

In both cases, you should have no hard drive in the system other than
the one you want to erase.


-WD

Jay <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:hPk8b.1585$(E-Mail Removed)...

> I want to give a company computer away.

> Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D
> effectively clean up all data to the extent that no other
> low level program can ever retrieve it or view it?

Nope, its quite easy to get the data back if thats all you do.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/
will clean it much more securely.

There's one in Nortons SystemWorks too.

Previously Will Dormann <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Jay wrote:

>> I want to give a company away.
>> Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean up
>> all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve it
>> or view it?

> No.

In fact the data will be intact, only the administrative info gets
overwritten. Commercial data recovery or a gifted amatour will
still get most/all data from the drives.

> To be safe, you should wipe the drive. If it's 8GB or less, try:
> http://service.boulder.ibm.com/storage/hddtech/wipe.exe

> Otherwise, get a linux boot disk:
> http://www.toms.net/rb
> and issue the command:
> dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda

If you want id faster and less secure (not by much) use

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

> In both cases, you should have no hard drive in the system other than
> the one you want to erase.

.... since the above will erase the first drive and will not
be reversable. There is a rumour the CIA can still get the data,
but there is no confirmation. It might well be physically impossible.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

On 12 Sep 2003 20:36:10 GMT, Arno Wagner <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>If you want id faster and less secure (not by much) use
>
>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

And be certain that the disk size is not reduced by a disk manager, or
that the Linux version used detects that, and use full disk size.
--
Svend Olaf

"Jay" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:hPk8b.1585$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I want to give a company away.
> Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean
> up all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve
> it or view it?

Nope. Use DISKTool at www.nu2.nu/utilities, erase option.
You can also checkout the drive with it afterwards.

>
> Thanks
> Jay.
>
>
>

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 14:33:49 GMT, "Jay" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I want to give a company away.
>Does deleting files and then formatting (c:>format D effectively clean up
>all data to the extent that no other low level program can ever retrieve it
>or view it?

No. Use something like PGP secure erase.

>Thanks
>Jay.
>
>


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

Previously Svend Olaf Mikkelsen <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On 12 Sep 2003 20:36:10 GMT, Arno Wagner <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>If you want id faster and less secure (not by much) use
>>
>>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

> And be certain that the disk size is not reduced by a disk manager, or
> that the Linux version used detects that, and use full disk size.

Are there any disk-managers that do not need to be executed
by the CPU?

Because no ordinary disk-manager will work under Linux,
unless Linux does not see it, i.e. it doesn not run on
the CPU/Mainboard. Linux even ignores the BIOS-Settings
when accessing a HDD. It just asks the HDD directly for
its size.

Arno
--
For email address: lastname AT tik DOT ee DOT ethz DOT ch
GnuPG: ID:1E25338F FP:0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws" - Tacitus

On 13 Sep 2003 16:27:33 GMT, Arno Wagner <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Previously Svend Olaf Mikkelsen <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>> On 12 Sep 2003 20:36:10 GMT, Arno Wagner <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>>If you want id faster and less secure (not by much) use
>>>
>>>dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda
>
>> And be certain that the disk size is not reduced by a disk manager, or
>> that the Linux version used detects that, and use full disk size.
>
>Are there any disk-managers that do not need to be executed
>by the CPU?
>
>Because no ordinary disk-manager will work under Linux,
>unless Linux does not see it, i.e. it doesn not run on
>the CPU/Mainboard. Linux even ignores the BIOS-Settings
>when accessing a HDD. It just asks the HDD directly for
>its size.
>
>Arno

If the Max Address of a disk is set, the full size must be enabled
before anything can be written to the end of the disk. Normally a disk
manager enables the full size during boot. Linux cannot be expected to
do that, but some versions may do it.
--
Svend Olaf