How to delete data completely on HD

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Hi folks,


OS Window/Linux/


What will be an easy and reliable way to completely erase a hard drive excluding with a hammer.


I have several 40G IDE Hard drives, running Linux or Windows, for disposal. A friend of mine needs them. I want completely erase all data before delivering them to him. Googling "How to completely erase a hard drive" brought me many suggestion. Please advise. TIA


B.R.
satimis
 

Nibiru2012

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How trusting are you of this friend? Just kidding!

Just hook up each one to your computer and then right-click on the drive icon in Computer and then do a complete format, not a quick format.

The key words here are "easy and reliable".

You can also download a copy of HIREN'S BOOT CD and use a more complex method such as D.O.D. Three wipe, etc. but it will take three times longer.
 
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Some general information concerning "DBAN".
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on April 28, 2009
http://download.cnet.com/Darik-s-Boot-and-Nuke-for-CD-and-DVD/3000-2094_4-10151762.html
Darik's not kidding about the "nuke" in the name of his program: use DBAN only if you want to completely eradicate any trace of data on a hard drive.
This is the ultimate in data shredding--there's no recovery once you've used it.
There are two work flows for using DBAN. When it loads, you can type "autonuke" and press Enter.
From there, DBAN will show you the progress being made on wiping your hard drive's data.
Larger HDs will take longer, of course. There's a more configurable option, as well.
Hit Enter at the start-up screen, and the Interactive mode will let you select specific hard drives or partitions to be shredded.
Use the space bar and up-arrow and down-arrow keys to navigate and select from shredding algorithm options, and press F10 to start the process.
Because DBAN loads before your operating system, there's not going to be much of an interface.
If you're not familiar with the look and feel of DOS or changing your BIOS configuration, proceed with DBAN with extreme caution.
DBAN must be loaded onto a CD, DVD, floppy disk, or USB thumbdrive to be used.
From Darik Horn:
Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk 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.
DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer,
and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware.
DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.
This version of Darik's Boot And Nuke is for use on CD and DVD media.
.
 

Digerati

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I prefer Eraser as suggested by yodap. It used DBAN technologies but works within Windows.
 

catilley1092

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As Nibiru stated, and especially since you have so many of these drives, you can simply format them the way he described. This is much quicker than any of the other options, although they are good ones too. If it were only a couple of discs, I'd say DBAN (autonuke DOD short erase). But if you have several, this would be very time consuming.

If you do a full format on each, it'll be tough to retrieve anything. Possibly the military, FBI or CIA can find something, but the average user, no.

Best of Luck,
Cat
 

catilley1092

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Some general information concerning "DBAN".
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on April 28, 2009
http://download.cnet.com/Darik-s-Boot-and-Nuke-for-CD-and-DVD/3000-2094_4-10151762.html
Darik's not kidding about the "nuke" in the name of his program: use DBAN only if you want to completely eradicate any trace of data on a hard drive.
This is the ultimate in data shredding--there's no recovery once you've used it.
There are two work flows for using DBAN. When it loads, you can type "autonuke" and press Enter.
From there, DBAN will show you the progress being made on wiping your hard drive's data.
Larger HDs will take longer, of course. There's a more configurable option, as well.
Hit Enter at the start-up screen, and the Interactive mode will let you select specific hard drives or partitions to be shredded.
Use the space bar and up-arrow and down-arrow keys to navigate and select from shredding algorithm options, and press F10 to start the process.
Because DBAN loads before your operating system, there's not going to be much of an interface.
If you're not familiar with the look and feel of DOS or changing your BIOS configuration, proceed with DBAN with extreme caution.
DBAN must be loaded onto a CD, DVD, floppy disk, or USB thumbdrive to be used.
From Darik Horn:
Darik's Boot and Nuke ("DBAN") is a self-contained boot disk 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.
DBAN is a means of ensuring due diligence in computer recycling, a way of preventing identity theft if you want to sell a computer,
and a good way to totally clean a Microsoft Windows installation of viruses and spyware.
DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis.
This version of Darik's Boot And Nuke is for use on CD and DVD media.
.
I had no problem using DBAN on my notebook drive last week, I ran the gutmann (35x overwrite) twice, after doing a 7 time wipe 10 times with Partition Wizard.

I also had to make no changes to the BIOS, just booted from the CD and it done it's job perfectly. Afterwards, using the surface test checker that is in Partition Wizard, all blocks were 100% fine.

I'm aware that this sounds like overkill, but I was having many "NTFS" related problems, as reported by the Acronis Drive Monitor, and now I'm not having them. The hard drive in question has had many OS's of all sorts and formats written onto it, and I wanted a sparkling clean drive to start fresh with.

So far, so good!

Cat
 
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As Nibiru stated, and especially since you have so many of these drives, you can simply format them the way he described. This is much quicker than any of the other options, although they are good ones too. If it were only a couple of discs, I'd say DBAN (autonuke DOD short erase). But if you have several, this would be very time consuming.

If you do a full format on each, it'll be tough to retrieve anything. Possibly the military, FBI or CIA can find something, but the average user, no.

Best of Luck,
Cat
Hi,

Thanks for your advice.

I think dd command will do the job for me erasing data completely on 40G HD (small size). in short time.

Wiping a Hard Drive with DD
http://www.marksanborn.net/howto/wiping-a-hard-drive-with-dd/

Because the data on the HDs consist medical reports of another friend which are considered as privacy.

My friend is NOT working in CIA nor in FBI. kidding!!!


B.R.
satimis
 

Nibiru2012

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I ran the gutmann (35x overwrite) twice, after doing a 7 time wipe 10 times with Partition Wizard.
Cat - how many times have I told you that what you're doing as described above is totally a waste of time, placing undo stress on your hard drives and to be honest with you, EXTREME obsessive-compulsive behavior disorder.

C'mon Cat, do you really think more than one hard drive wipe is going to be any better than just doing it once? Based on what you've stated you wiped that drive for a total of 140 TIMES!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why in the Sam Hill do you do this? Once you wipe your hard drive, it's wiped! Period, done, finito, clean, no mas, etc. :dontknow:

The ONLY REASON to do what you're doing is if you're really worried that the National Security Agency is going to come in and take your hard drive platters apart and view them under an electron microscope.

Even then with your method all they'll probably see is some very upset magnetic media! :eek:

I care about you and appreciate our mutual postings and I know the meds you take may be part of this also.

Dr. Nibiru2012 recommends that take a chill pill, relax and don't worry so damn much. :beer:
 

catilley1092

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Actually, I wouldn't subject my desktop to such cleaning methods, but to be honest about things, the notebook in question has a warranty until October 2011. Should it cost too much to repair it, my money is simply refunded. I know, because I've received two refunds in a like manner.

Even if I had only the $400 that I paid for it to purchase a new one, it would be better than the one I have. Newegg has sent me several ads with $399.99 notebooks for sale, no tax & free shipping. A couple of them had 4GB DDR3 RAM installed, and a more recent processor than my desktop has. It would be doing me a favor to crash for the last time.

I hope that the Samsung that I ordered from Newegg tonight is as good as the drive in that notebook is. It's Samsung, too, and it was produced early in 2005. Even though Acronis Drive Monitor constantly reports that the drive is past the critical temperature point (125F), it has hit 140 on one occasion, and yet still works. But with thirteen months to go, the notebook cannot withstand so much for that long. It's been folding a few months, it remains to be seen just how long it will go on.

Cat
 

Nibiru2012

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I have one of those Samsung HD103SJ 1 Terabyte hard drive and it's whisper-quiet.

The fan cooling the external case is all I can hear from the dual eSATA JBOD enclosure I have.

The temperature is about 32 Celsius or about 89 Fahrenheit.
 

catilley1092

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That's going to be my main desktop drive, as soon as it arrives. I got Newegg's ad a few days ago, originally tried to resist purchasing it, but was too good a deal not to take up on.

In an earlier posting, I was saying that there were problems with the Caviar Black drive that I bought (noisy & hot). I'll get a RMA# from WD, and get it repaired or replaced. It's my understanding that my MB (Capirona) has an extra eSATA port inside of the computer. If this is so, I'll find a drive case with an eSATA connection, and run it from there.

And speaking about my MB, it'll support a newer processor than what I have, although my choices will be limited to a newer Athlon X2 (3xxxxe thru 6xxxxe), the socket type is AM2, the "e" has to be there, the power supply will limit my choices. I'll have to look again, but I remember that my power is 85 watts, a notebook style one. Currently, I'm running the Athlon X2 3250e. Surely I can do better, for not a ton a cash.

Cat
 

TrainableMan

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I don't understand why they are putting esata ports inside on a motherboard - the e in esata is external. Just means you need a different cable. I would understand it being part of the rear external ports but I have actually seen a motherboard with it right beside the sata ports and they will all be internal..
 
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Nibiru2012

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I don't understand why they are putting esata ports inside on a motherboard - the e in esata is external. Just means you need a different cable. I would understand it being part of the rear external ports but I have actually seen a motherboard with it right beside the sata ports and they will all be internal..

I agree also, I have seen eSATA port on the rear ports area of the motherboard, but never as an internal port. But then again this is an HP computer that is essentially a laptop reconfigured as a desktop. Supposed to look like an iMac.

Cat just really needs to build his own desktop and quit messing with this other stuff. But at least he'll have plenty of hard drives when he does build one! :cool:
 

catilley1092

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I don't know if the internal eSATA port that I saw on the MB's web site is being used or not. It may be, the site was independent of HP.

What I would've liked to do was do as Nibiru suggested to me a few months back, buy a mid size case and, using the MB (and other parts) that I presently have, reassemble the computer to meet my needs. With all of the professional help that I have available on this very forum, plenty of OS's and Office options from TechNet, I could pull it off. The money that I spent on the hard drive that I just bought would have almost paid for a more recent, faster processor, and that will probably be my next project, early to mid 2011.

But the main (and only) reason that I don't go ahead and do it, is that the computer is under warranty until November, 2012. It came with a one year warranty, and for only $65, I added two extra years through SquareTrade, a fine company to do business with. It is not against the warranty to upgrade my components, but to disassemble it and install everything in a custom case, would most likely throw the warranty out the window. I saved for two years to purchase a new computer, found this one on sale, it was built to run Vista, but converted to run 7, and was rated by PC World as the best of the the price range of $500 to $750.

Even with what I had saved up, I used $200 of our Christmas savings to buy it, and even if the warranty factor wasn't an issue, I'd hear some static over rebuilding it so soon.

But when the warranty does expire, I will reassemble it. If it's possible, I'd like to keep the MB that I have, so that I don't have to purchase a new copy of Windows. While I do have access to many OS's through TechNet, the rules state that the software is NOT to be relied upon as your main OS. You must, at the very least, have your own copy of Windows backed up.

One thing for sure, as Nibiru pointed out, I'll have plenty of hard drives from which to choose a suitable backup place.:D

Cat
 

Nibiru2012

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I'd hear some static over rebuilding it so soon.
Cat - You're married... you'll always hear static until you go meet your Maker!
 

catilley1092

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I know that, all too well. But for the most part, I have a good spouse. For the nearly two years that I layed around, in 2006 after my surgery, unable to do anything, she stood my me, made sure that I ate, was bathed, cared for me as though I was her child, rather than a spouse. Sure, we have had problems, but who that has been married 20+ years hasn't?

And you're right, I probably will hear it some, but for the most part, I let it go in one ear, and through the other. Take it with a grain of salt, and go on.

But really, I can get around her, if I want to. It's the warranty issue that holds me back, who knows, it's no promise that it'll last three years. Hardware fails. If it were to, I'd have plenty of cash to do a build with.

As well as plenty of hard drives to work with.

Cat
 

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