Just had it confirmed once and for all, reformat doesn _not_ wipe drive completely!

[fitwell]

Here's a very simple little command line program that will do the job:

http://www.bonaventura.free-online.co.uk/realdelete/scour.zip

Put it on a floppy, boot with a boot disk and run scour.com

This has nothing to do with forensics or overwriting the disk, which others
have suggested. You don't need all that. All you need is a program that
will erase all the lost flotsam and jetsam from past installs.

Kewl, sounds neat! Thanks.

 

[fitwell]

Yes, but I'm afraid to ask them, they all carry guns.

<lol> You guys crack me up! Thanks, had a nice laugh.

 

[Mel]

What is the ultimate test that nothing is left over? I use Eraser but who
*actually* knows if anything is left or not?

What about any data stored on unreliable sectors..

Modern hard disk controllers manage bad sectors internally,
so defective sectors are invisible to the host computer.
If my hard disk's controller detects a failing sector it will
copy the data from it, to one of the spare sectors reserved
for this purpose. Using ECC error correction to
recover the original data.

The location of the bad sector is permanently stored in the
controller's memory and when any software (including
any disk scrubber, unless it were able to override the
controller) reads this sector, the controller will access
the new sector instead.


I guess the odds of a few defective sectors containing
confidential data is fairly slim and it is possible that
some or even most controllers might erase the original
data when they rewrite the sector to verify it is defective.


As far as the original question goes I just use format /q
(quick format) before installing windows. It just deletes
the directory entries and resets the fats. This in fact is
all that's needed.

Any strange effects observed after an install are likely
to be caused by software bugs (eg invalid pointers),
user error, or virus infected disks used during the
install and can't be caused by ghost data.

If data left on the drive after a format had any effect
to an install(which it doesn't) so would the random,
or otherwise data written by a disk secure erasing
program. And defragging a disk would be a disaster


Regards

Mel.

 

[REM]

Chrissy Cruiser <[email protected]> wrote:

LOL Got any friends who can explain Gutmann?

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/

 

[Chrissy Cruiser]

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/

Thanks. Got anybody that can explain these articles?

 

[Chrissy Cruiser]

What about any data stored on unreliable sectors..

Modern hard disk controllers manage bad sectors internally,
so defective sectors are invisible to the host computer.
If my hard disk's controller detects a failing sector it will
copy the data from it, to one of the spare sectors reserved
for this purpose. Using ECC error correction to
recover the original data.

The location of the bad sector is permanently stored in the
controller's memory and when any software (including
any disk scrubber, unless it were able to override the
controller) reads this sector, the controller will access
the new sector instead.

I guess the odds of a few defective sectors containing
confidential data is fairly slim and it is possible that
some or even most controllers might erase the original
data when they rewrite the sector to verify it is defective.

True and your scenario is one of many. This issue raised its ugly head in a
recent discussion on biometric data security.

 

[jmatt]

fitwell , I use tis one .

WIPE OUT
http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html
Freeware .
WIPE OUT : as the name implies, this utility will absolutely WIPE
your hard drive. For those
times when an industrial strength cleaner is needed to remove any
pesky files Fdisk may have
left behind. A readme file is included in the zip file.
WARNING...WIPE OUT will remove ALL data
from the Hard Drive.

DIRECTIONS

1- Unzip file
2- Copy WIPEOUT to a Win9x boot disk
3- Boot with Win9x disk
4- At the A:\> type "wipeout c: /nq /np" (no quotes)
/nq = no queries - you will not be asked if you are sure.
/np = no partitions - this will overwrite the MBR

Press Enter .

Now run fdisk to set up partitions .
When done , reboot & format .

* Posted via http://www.sixfiles.com/forum

 

[Chrissy Cruiser]

.WIPE OUT will remove ALL data
from the Hard Drive.

How do you know?