cleaning harddrive

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Guest

what files and directories do i have to shred to clean my harddrive and where
would they be located?.

thanks and regards
 
Based on your question, i would have to reply ALL files and ALL directories
need to be shredded in order to clean your harddrive. Easier way would be to
format it.
 
shaun said:
what files and directories do i have to shred to clean my harddrive and
where
would they be located?.

thanks and regards
Click to expand...

What do you mean "clean"? What are you trying to remove? And how much
effort do you expect someone to make to recover the information.?

If you actually want to make sure that nobody reads what is on your hard
drive, you need to do a complete reformat using a secure "wipe" program that
writes xxxx's and oooo'sa in every sector.

After that, you probably need to take it out and incinerate it in a high
temperature furnace!!
 
Maintenance type cleaning or Disk wiping in prep for re-install ?

General cleanup involves purging the Temp folders ( System and
individual profiles) and caches. The built-in XP Disk Cleanup will
do most regular type cleanup.
 
If you want to clean the drive completely, that is remove everything that is
on the drive, then reformatting would be necessary.
There is software available that will security wipe your hard drive, this is
especially useful if you are passing on your machine to someone else.
However, the better ones are not free. I'm not sure whether it is still
available but i still use Ontrack data eraser professional for security
erasing my hard drives. You should be prepared for a long wait though when
security erasing. The size of hard drives today mean that it could take
hours or days to completely security erase a hard drive.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post..
 
thanks for the replies,
i just want to remove some personal data held on a couple of files i deleted
and wondered where all deleted files ended up. i have shredded directories
mentioned above, but expected the software to shred more of my drive.
reards
shaun
 
John said:
If you want to clean the drive completely, that is remove everything that is
on the drive, then reformatting would be necessary.
There is software available that will security wipe your hard drive, this is
especially useful if you are passing on your machine to someone else.
However, the better ones are not free.
Click to expand...

DBAN (dericks boot and nuke) actually IS one of the better ones. It
handles multiple hard drives simutlaneously. We've gotten it to do up
to 16 at once. IT will handle most hard drive controllers. Easy to use.
Create a floppy boot with it. Type autonuke to nuke everything (by
default the 3 Pass DoD short method, or gou can select from a number of
options, tepending on time constraints and security desired) or press
enter for a more selective nuking menu. It's weakness is that it won't
do zips, floppies, tapes or CDs. If you have a marginal HDD with bad
sectors or an iffy controller board, it will try anyway.

http://dban.sourceforge.net/


I'm not sure whether it is still
 
Which software ? - I use a program called Cyberscrub that will
overwrite previous data, clean file slack and some file properties.

Deleted files have their entry in the MFT (Master File Table )
removed, but the clusters that hold the data retain the contents
until new data is written in those locations which are now marked
as Free Space to XP.

Maybe I don't follow your use of the term "Shredded".
 
There are plenty of programs out there to shred files, directories and
programs. Norton SystemWorks even has a 'complete wipe' which removes data
from the MFT and overwrites the directory several times (depending on the
options set).

Look around on www.download.com , and www.pcmag.com to compare prices and
features. The only Windows native shredder is the " Hold 'shift' Key While
Deleting..." trick (bypassing the recycle bin).
 
i just want to remove some personal data held on a couple of files i deleted
and wondered where all deleted files ended up. i have shredded directories
mentioned above, but expected the software to shred more of my drive.
Click to expand...

If you're not in a hurry, just delete the files and then defragment the
drive. As time goes by and you continue to delete files from time to time,
add and remove programs and defragment the drive every now and then, your
personal data will be overwritten again and again.
 
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