Utility to make data on HD Unrecoveverable

[Just me]

I'm returning my hard drive to Maxtor for a replacement.

I'm looking for a utility that will wipe the drive clean of all data
so that no data can be recovered from it. This is an hard drive in
which a lot of personal info was stored and, therefore, would not want
for anyone to be able to retrieve remnants of them.

I hear that doing a format of the drive is not enough and that files,
or pieces of them, may still be in some sectors.

Please suggest a freeware/shareware that will wipe clean the drive.

Thanks to all for your recommendations.

 

[Mel]

I'm returning my hard drive to Maxtor for a replacement.

I'm looking for a utility that will wipe the drive clean of all data
so that no data can be recovered from it. This is an hard drive in
which a lot of personal info was stored and, therefore, would not want
for anyone to be able to retrieve remnants of them.

I hear that doing a format of the drive is not enough and that files,
or pieces of them, may still be in some sectors.

Please suggest a freeware/shareware that will wipe clean the drive.

Thanks to all for your recommendations.

The BCWipe utility is a shell extender for Windows 95/98/NT, intended to
securely delete your files. It supports correspondent U.S. Department of
Defense recommendations (DoD 5200.28-STD). The BCWipe utility provides 3
ways to shred file's contents from the disk:
- Delete with wiping. Using 'Delete with wiping' command you can delete
and wipe your files and folders using pop-up context menus in Windows
Shell (Explorer program).
- Wipe free disk space. If you have previously deleted sensitive files
using a standard operating system command, you may wipe free space on
the disk where these files were stored - contents of all previously
deleted files' will be erased.
- Swap file wiping. BCWipe utility automatically wipes Windows Swap file
contents when you run 'Wipe free disk space' command.

BCWipe software is distributed as freeware for non-commercial and
non-govermental use.

Last Freeware Version:

http://www.woundedmoon.org/win32/bcwipe228.html

 

[Just me]

Thanks so much for the fast response.

I will D/L and install BCWipe.

Another question, if I'm not being off-topic here. Is there yet
another undelete utility that will will verify that no files, or
pieces of them, are still in the drive?

This is the D: drive and it's the second HD that fails in less than
three years. Most of the data has been recovered although the
filenames have been changed to eight.three characters format.

Besides personal info, the drive contained some clients' info and
would really hate it if their info can be retrieved after using BCWipe
and doing a format.

Again, thanks so much for your help.

 

[Querulantus]

I'm looking for a utility that will wipe the drive clean of all data
so that no data can be recovered from it.

"Eraser is an advanced security tool (for Windows), which allows you
to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by
overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. Works
with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS.
Eraser is Free software and its source code is released under GNU
General Public License."

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/

Q.

 

[bambam]

I'm returning my hard drive to Maxtor for a replacement.

I'm looking for a utility that will wipe the drive clean of all data
so that no data can be recovered from it. This is an hard drive in
which a lot of personal info was stored and, therefore, would not want
for anyone to be able to retrieve remnants of them.

I hear that doing a format of the drive is not enough and that files,
or pieces of them, may still be in some sectors.

Please suggest a freeware/shareware that will wipe clean the drive.

Thanks to all for your recommendations.

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that
securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN is appropriate for
bulk or emergency data destruction.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

 

[Just me]

I believe DBAN will erase all drives upon boot up. I only wanted to
erase the defective D: drive.

From http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/quickstart.php, which uses DBAN, it
reads as follows:

"To erase your entire hard disk:
Eraser uses the 'Darik's Boot and Nuke' disk option to erase all your
hard drives.
To use this option:
1. Place a floppy (or CD) in your a: drive.
2. Click on the Start button and then choose Programs->Eraser->Create
Boot Nuke Disk.
3. Ensure 'Writing on Floppy' is ticked. Tick 'Formatting' if your
floppy needs to be formatted.
4. Click OK. Result: Your Boot Nuke Disk has now been created.
5. Boot up your PC with the floppy still remaining in your a: drive.
Remember: If you wish to erase the Hard Disk of another PC, then bring
this Floppy to the PC, insert it into the a: drive and Boot it up.
Result: All drives will now be erased (including the Operating System)
IMPORTANT: USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION
For a summary:
'Darik's Boot and Nuke' ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that
securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will
automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that
it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or
emergency data destruction.'"

Can DBAN be controlled to erase just the D: drive.

Thanks so much for the response, and sorry for the long post.

 

[bambam]

I believe DBAN will erase all drives upon boot up. I only wanted to
erase the defective D: drive.

Can DBAN be controlled to erase just the D: drive.

Good question, but I don't know the answer.
You really should unplug any drive you don't wish to wipe anyway. Just to
be safe, so it doesn't matter.

 

[BobS]

If the info is that sensitive - then it's not worth returning the drive to
Maxtor for the warranty and risking that the data can be recovered. Bite
the bullet and get a better drive this time. You can than take the old apart
and with a hammer, beat the discs inside to destroy them. Then there is no
worrying if the data will ever be recovered. A new 250Gb Hitachi drive can
be found for around $179.

Bob S.

 

[lugnut]

I believe DBAN will erase all drives upon boot up. I only wanted to
erase the defective D: drive.

From http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/quickstart.php, which uses DBAN, it
reads as follows:

"To erase your entire hard disk:
Eraser uses the 'Darik's Boot and Nuke' disk option to erase all your
hard drives.
To use this option:
1. Place a floppy (or CD) in your a: drive.
2. Click on the Start button and then choose Programs->Eraser->Create
Boot Nuke Disk.
3. Ensure 'Writing on Floppy' is ticked. Tick 'Formatting' if your
floppy needs to be formatted.
4. Click OK. Result: Your Boot Nuke Disk has now been created.
5. Boot up your PC with the floppy still remaining in your a: drive.
Remember: If you wish to erase the Hard Disk of another PC, then bring
this Floppy to the PC, insert it into the a: drive and Boot it up.
Result: All drives will now be erased (including the Operating System)
IMPORTANT: USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION
For a summary:
'Darik's Boot and Nuke' ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot floppy that
securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will
automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that
it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or
emergency data destruction.'"

Can DBAN be controlled to erase just the D: drive.

Personal experience - NO! You must remove the drive you
want to save from the system. That is the only way. Boot
n' Nuke will erase every drive it finds in the system. Once
it runs, the data is for all practical purposes zapped.
Check Maxtors site. They have (had) a low level formatter
that will return a specific drive to it's original state as
manufactured. This also permanently zpas the data as it
uses a multiple read/write/format that results in a scrubbed
drive. It does the diagnostics and marks all the unuseable
sectors to prevent use. Takes a while to do the job -
bigger the drive thing.

This is OT but, outpost.com has a Seagate 200GB drive today
for under $50US after rebate with a 5 yr warranty.

Lugnut

 

[REM]

Just me <[email protected]> wrote:

Thanks so much for the fast response.

I will D/L and install BCWipe.

NOTE: there is a regular install for wiping sensitive files under
Windows and there is another program included that is made to use with
a boot disk to wipe the entire drive.

Read the docs and see which method you prefer to use.

 

[Just me]

Personal experience - NO! You must remove the drive you

want to save from the system. That is the only way. Boot
n' Nuke will erase every drive it finds in the system. Once
it runs, the data is for all practical purposes zapped.
Check Maxtors site. They have (had) a low level formatter
that will return a specific drive to it's original state as
manufactured. This also permanently zpas the data as it
uses a multiple read/write/format that results in a scrubbed
drive. It does the diagnostics and marks all the unuseable
sectors to prevent use. Takes a while to do the job -
bigger the drive thing.

This is OT but, outpost.com has a Seagate 200GB drive today
for under $50US after rebate with a 5 yr warranty.

Lugnut

Is the one below the one you're talking about?

Seagate 200GB ST3200822A-RK UATA100
8MB Buffer - Retail Hard Drive Kit

Capacity: 200GB
Seek Time: 8.5ms
7200RPM
8MB Buffer
5 Years Limited Manufacturer Warranty
Regular Price - $149.99
Limit 1 per customer/household/address.

Limit 1 per Household.
$109.99 Store Price
$49.99 After Rebates

If so, it looks very appealing.

I'm using Windows 98 SE and the one I'm replacing has the following
info on the box:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus
buffer size: 2MB
Average seek time: <9.7
Max transfer rate 133 MBytes/sec (Ultra ATA/133)
Rotational speed: 7200 RPM

I'm not very experienced. Will replacing the Maxtor with the Seagate
200GB be compatible?

Thanks and sorry for being off-topic.

 

[Kurt]

Just me wrote in

I'm using Windows 98 SE and the one I'm replacing has the following
info on the box:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus
buffer size: 2MB
Average seek time: <9.7
Max transfer rate 133 MBytes/sec (Ultra ATA/133)
Rotational speed: 7200 RPM

I'm not very experienced. Will replacing the Maxtor with the Seagate
200GB be compatible?

Excuse me for jumping in here. You souldn't have any problems with the
bigger Seagate drive. But depending on the age of your BIOS you may
find that it (the BIOS) will not recognise the entire 200gb of the new
hdd. You can upgrade the BIOS fairly easily though.
And just to reinforce the notion: Boot'N'Nuke will render ALL attached
hdds sterile (BTDT, ouch).

 

[Mel]

Is the one below the one you're talking about?

Seagate 200GB ST3200822A-RK UATA100
8MB Buffer - Retail Hard Drive Kit

Capacity: 200GB
Seek Time: 8.5ms
7200RPM
8MB Buffer
5 Years Limited Manufacturer Warranty
Regular Price - $149.99
Limit 1 per customer/household/address.

Limit 1 per Household.
$109.99 Store Price
$49.99 After Rebates

If so, it looks very appealing.

I'm using Windows 98 SE and the one I'm replacing has the following
info on the box:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus
buffer size: 2MB
Average seek time: <9.7
Max transfer rate 133 MBytes/sec (Ultra ATA/133)
Rotational speed: 7200 RPM

I'm not very experienced. Will replacing the Maxtor with the Seagate
200GB be compatible?

Thanks and sorry for being off-topic.

The Seagate and Maxtor should be plug compatible, however the Seagate
has a lower transfer rate (100MB/sec) than the Maxtor (133MB/sec).

 

[Just me]

Thanks, Kurt.

By the BIOS you mean the motherboard?

A year ago the power supply failed and had the power supply, the
motherboard, the memory and the modem replaced. This seems very
recent. The guy who replaced all this stuff gave me no manual on the
motherboard, though.

I'll log off and post back with the BIOS info.

Your input is very much appreciated here.

 

[Just me]

The Seagate and Maxtor should be plug compatible, however the Seagate
has a lower transfer rate (100MB/sec) than the Maxtor (133MB/sec).

I noticed that. I'll be using the drive to back up the OS, data files
and to burn files from it to my CD-RW. No movie or sound files.
Does it make much difference?

Thanks to all of you for your help and suggetions.

 

[Mel]

I noticed that. I'll be using the drive to back up the OS, data files
and to burn files from it to my CD-RW. No movie or sound files.
Does it make much difference?

If your Hard Disk Controller supports 133MB/sec the the Seagate will be
25% slower than the Maxtor.

 

[lugnut]

Is the one below the one you're talking about?

Seagate 200GB ST3200822A-RK UATA100
8MB Buffer - Retail Hard Drive Kit

Capacity: 200GB
Seek Time: 8.5ms
7200RPM
8MB Buffer
5 Years Limited Manufacturer Warranty
Regular Price - $149.99
Limit 1 per customer/household/address.

Limit 1 per Household.
$109.99 Store Price
$49.99 After Rebates

If so, it looks very appealing.

I'm using Windows 98 SE and the one I'm replacing has the following
info on the box:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus
buffer size: 2MB
Average seek time: <9.7
Max transfer rate 133 MBytes/sec (Ultra ATA/133)
Rotational speed: 7200 RPM

I'm not very experienced. Will replacing the Maxtor with the Seagate
200GB be compatible?

Thanks and sorry for being off-topic.

There should be no problem at all subing the Seagate for the
Maxtor. The Seagate is slower but, unless you have a
relatively high performance machine or are rendering
graphics and movies which require high data transfer rates,
you probably won't notice much difference. It's transfer
rate is plenty fast to accomodate this work on an occasional
basis as I do. You may have more need for space than speed
as is my problem. You can check the net site for your MB
maker to see if it supports the full capacity of the drive.
If it does not, you may be able to update the BIOS or, you
can partition the drive into partitions that are small
enough for it to use. Many people do not like partions but,
I am from the computer middle ages when DOS 2.0 was king. I
firmly believe in disk partitioning to organize a drive -
nothing about computers bothers me more the open explorer
and see a thousand or more primary floders under program
files.

Lugnut

 

[Franklin]

On Tue 05 Jul 2005 17:40:47, Kurt wrote:

Excuse me for jumping in here. You souldn't have any problems
with the bigger Seagate drive. But depending on the age of your
BIOS you may find that it (the BIOS) will not recognise the
entire 200gb of the new hdd. You can upgrade the BIOS fairly
easily though. And just to reinforce the notion: Boot'N'Nuke
will render ALL attached hdds sterile (BTDT, ouch).

Kurt I would add that ISTR that some of Win98's utilities may not
paritition or format (or whatever) hard drives above a certain size.

Also Win98 uses FAT32 and will have a large index for 200 GB at most
workable cluster sizes. The OP might want to consider getting XP (he
will probably get it one day) and then use NTFS more efficiently-
sized clusters.

 

[Franklin]

On Tue 05 Jul 2005 18:10:24, Mel wrote:

If your Hard Disk Controller supports 133MB/sec the the Seagate
will be 25% slower than the Maxtor.

Mel, what you say is true but almost no PC is going to run those
drives at data rates *anywhere* near those max values.

If I didn't have to compromise anything else then I would get the 133
just for the hell of it. But the 100 is likely to be every bit as
good in practise.

 

[Mel]

On Tue 05 Jul 2005 18:10:24, Mel wrote:



Mel, what you say is true but almost no PC is going to run those
drives at data rates *anywhere* near those max values.

If I didn't have to compromise anything else then I would get the 133
just for the hell of it. But the 100 is likely to be every bit as
good in practise.

I didn't say either one would run at a sustained maximum data transfer
rate of 100MB/sec or 133MB/sec, however, benchmark testing shows that
with all things being equal that the ATA-133 drive will be 25% faster
than the ATA-100 drive.