Reformatting and making a reasonable effort to prevent data from being recovered?

[Dave Leer]

I would like to remove data from my computer prior to returning it at work.
I understand that in theory, data can always be retreived unless the hard
drive is destroyed. I am not going to go that far.

I am going to reinstall the XP disc that came with my computer. What is the
best way prior to or after reinstalling XP to prevent data from being
retreived by someone, perhaps with slightly better than average skills in
this area? If possible, I would like to make sure that commercial programs
on the market (Symantec, etc.) will not be able to retreive data.

Thanks for any help!!!!

 

[Kerry Brown]

Download the Ultimate Boot CD. There are some utilities on there that
overwrite the whole drive and make it much harder to retrieve data. Only
very specialized labs would be able to even attempt it.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

[Dave Leer]

Thanks Kerry!!!

Download the Ultimate Boot CD. There are some utilities on there that
overwrite the whole drive and make it much harder to retrieve data. Only
very specialized labs would be able to even attempt it.

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

 

[Rock]

I would like to remove data from my computer prior to returning it at work.
I understand that in theory, data can always be retreived unless the hard
drive is destroyed. I am not going to go that far.

I am going to reinstall the XP disc that came with my computer. What is
the best way prior to or after reinstalling XP to prevent data from being
retreived by someone, perhaps with slightly better than average skills in
this area? If possible, I would like to make sure that commercial programs
on the market (Symantec, etc.) will not be able to retreive data.

Another option is download from the hard drive manufacturer's web site a
utility that writes 0s to the drive. It will boot from a floppy or CD, zero
out the drive, then reinstall XP.

There are some other free wipe disk utilities available on the net through a
google search.

 

[Dave Leer]

I am not yet sure if this will be a problem, though I have a Toshiba Tablet
PC that does not have an internal CD/DVD. I purchased a separate external
drive from Toshiba. Once it is reformatted, I am just not sure if it will
recognize the drive to install Windows?

 

[Guest]

Those are good suggestions. however most HRD drives can be scanned for past
data but the person doing would have to be a pro at such a task.

to get CPU to origional status just restart and when manufacture screen
appears press F10. this will guide you to Restore. If CPU has Restore disc
installed just follow instructions either way. this will clear whats on your
CPU now and it will be sent back to factory settings and software.

good luck.

 

[Rock]

Those are good suggestions. however most HRD drives can be scanned for
past
data but the person doing would have to be a pro at such a task.

to get CPU to origional status just restart and when manufacture screen
appears press F10. this will guide you to Restore. If CPU has Restore disc
installed just follow instructions either way. this will clear whats on
your
CPU now and it will be sent back to factory settings and software.

good luck.

Chris, not every system has a restore function. Pressing F10 may work in
your system, but it certainly doesn't work on all. This type of restore is
proprietary to the particular computer vendor. A system that was installed
by using a retail or generic OEM installation CD wouldn't have that.

 

[Hollywood®Boy]

Dave Leer wrote:
: I would like to remove data from my computer prior to returning it at
: work. I understand that in theory, data can always be retreived
: unless the hard drive is destroyed. I am not going to go that far.
:
: I am going to reinstall the XP disc that came with my computer. What
: is the best way prior to or after reinstalling XP to prevent data
: from being retreived by someone, perhaps with slightly better than
: average skills in this area? If possible, I would like to make sure
: that commercial programs on the market (Symantec, etc.) will not be
: able to retreive data.
:
: Thanks for any help!!!!

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/SDelete.mspx

this utility works fine here on XP Pro. put a copy on your drive, and use a
command box to tell it what to do. instructions are on this page. you can
set it to overnight as many times as you want. I recommend seven times. it
is up to dod (department of defense) specs. get everything off except the
os, go to it, and then delete it.

 

[Kerry Brown]

This may be a problem if you follow my first suggestion as the recovery
partition would also be wiped out. Is there a procedure to create a set of
restore CD/DVDs? Have you done this? Have you tested if you can boot from
the recovery media? In your case you may want to follow Hollywood®Boy's
advice as that utility doesn't wipe out the whole hard drive.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I would like to remove data from my computer prior to returning it at work.
I understand that in theory, data can always be retreived unless the hard
drive is destroyed. I am not going to go that far.

I am going to reinstall the XP disc that came with my computer. What is the
best way prior to or after reinstalling XP to prevent data from being
retreived by someone, perhaps with slightly better than average skills in
this area? If possible, I would like to make sure that commercial programs
on the market (Symantec, etc.) will not be able to retreive data.

Thanks for any help!!!!

To protect your personal information and data from any future users
of average skills, you should, at the very least, format the hard drive.
If you wish to do a more thorough job of protecting your friend's
personal data, WipeDrive
(http://www.whitecanyon.com/wipedrive-erase-hard-drive.php) meets U.S.
DoD standards for securely cleaning surplus unclassified hard drives,
and could be used before formatting and reinstalling the OS and
applications.


--

Bruce Chambers

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