Erazing data on Hard drives forever?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gonzo
  • Start date Start date
G

Gonzo

We have some PC's we no longer need and selling them to staff, we want to
remove sensitive data forever, how can we do this? We have found by deleting
data from the recycle bin is recoverable and understand space is just marked
to be written over again. We can't format the drives as the OS is needed.
Are there any free utilities to do this job?
 
Gonzo, one simple way is to take the disks out of the boxes, and place them
in an external HD case, ~$AUD 28.00. There are various delete programs you
can get, there is one O&O Defrag you can download which can delete
(properly) free space on a disk by writing some binary code (like 0's) upto
21 times on the disk. Then place the disks back in their boxes.

- Winux P

: We have some PC's we no longer need and selling them to staff, we want to
: remove sensitive data forever, how can we do this? We have found by
deleting
: data from the recycle bin is recoverable and understand space is just
marked
: to be written over again. We can't format the drives as the OS is needed.
: Are there any free utilities to do this job?
:
:
 
From: "Gonzo" <[email protected]>

| We have some PC's we no longer need and selling them to staff, we want to
| remove sensitive data forever, how can we do this? We have found by deleting
| data from the recycle bin is recoverable and understand space is just marked
| to be written over again. We can't format the drives as the OS is needed.
| Are there any free utilities to do this job?
|

If you have the Norton Utilities, Symantec Ghost Enterprise or Norton Ghost 2003 then you
can use the GDisk.exe utility to wipe the hard disk of all data.

Information located in the following PDF file.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/products/ghost/manuals/DoDwipe.pdf
 
David said:
From: "Gonzo" <[email protected]>

| We have some PC's we no longer need and selling them to staff, we want to
| remove sensitive data forever, how can we do this? We have found by deleting
| data from the recycle bin is recoverable and understand space is just marked
| to be written over again. We can't format the drives as the OS is needed.
| Are there any free utilities to do this job?
|

If you have the Norton Utilities, Symantec Ghost Enterprise or Norton Ghost 2003 then you
can use the GDisk.exe utility to wipe the hard disk of all data.

Information located in the following PDF file.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/products/ghost/manuals/DoDwipe.pdf
Click to expand...
WATCH OUT!
Gdisk will wipe the whole disk (or at least a whole partition). The OP
wanted to preserve the OS installation.
 
From: "Lem" <[email protected]>


| WATCH OUT!
| Gdisk will wipe the whole disk (or at least a whole partition). The OP
| wanted to preserve the OS installation.

Everything *SHOULD* be wiped !
 
Hi Gonzo:

Just exactly how secure do you need to be? Do you need to protect against
undelete utilities and cluster viewers? Do you need to protect against
hardware-based methods of recovery? Could the sensitive info wreck your
business? If you need 100% non-recoverable, I think any method would have to
include "de-gaussing" the entire disk. This would wipe all including the O/S.

If you don't want to wipe the O/S, who's to say that some important info
can't be harvested from files in the O/S or from "underneath" it with an
electron microscope (don't laugh, it's possible).

I have used Wincleaner for years but I am not sure it is available anymore.
It had a "death disk" that would take everything out. It took 26 hours to
eradicate a 40GB hdd from a 1.4 floppy.

I am interested in seeing more opinions on this.

Mark
 
David said:
From: "Lem" <[email protected]>


| WATCH OUT!
| Gdisk will wipe the whole disk (or at least a whole partition). The OP
| wanted to preserve the OS installation.

Everything *SHOULD* be wiped !
Click to expand...

In general, I agree. However, the OP wrote, "We can't format the drives
as the OS is needed." It's nice to know what's going to happen before
it happens -- when it's as irreversible as a disk wipe.
 
From: "Lem" <[email protected]>


| In general, I agree. However, the OP wrote, "We can't format the drives
| as the OS is needed." It's nice to know what's going to happen before
| it happens -- when it's as irreversible as a disk wipe.

It was also indicated theey are being sold to staff which means if they came with the OS
they have the right to the discs to re-install the OS. Wiping the disk will also preclude
any ethical problems that may arise if there installed applications on the hard disk.
 
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