J T

Do you know a way I can permanently wipe data from a hard drive, I know if I FDISK it all the data will be gone, but I believe you can still get the data back from an FDISK.

I want to wipe a hard drive with no way of getting the data back.

Trotty

Can you? Even if you FDISK, repartition and format?

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

yeh u need a lowlevel format tool usually found from the HDD manufacturers website. This zero's the drive I believe, so no data can be retrieved.

Silent Monkey

You need to define what you mean by "No way to get the data back".
Given the resources, data can be recovered from a disk even after a low-level format. All you can do is make it difficult (expensive) to do it.

Physical destruction is probably the safest way.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

after a lowlevel format u sure? i mean this is suppose to return the drive to how it is when its shipped from the manufacturer.

ak47mh

I have heard reliably that bcwipe is the only utility if used, that forensic teams cannot recover data.

It does not matter how many times you delete the partitions or format the disk.

stevem2k

You could put it in the 1.5T MRI scanner at my wife's work.

I can guarantee you won't find any data on it after 5 minutes.

Also works for credit cards btw.

Steve

stevencotton

Surely all you need to do is delete everything from the drive (which doesn't actually delete it all, just marks those sectors as empty when the data's still there), then fill it with crap again, and delete that. Any undelete will just get the crap back. Something like a constant:

dir/s >> crap

until it fills up.

Steve.

shunty

correct, only physical destruction deletes permanently.....mind you havn't heard of what ak47mh has said, sounds interesting

I have recovered deleted files from 1 year ago on pc's & servers even after other apps have been installed

lol @ stevem2k

shunty

shunty

Tsk Tsk!

ps. it's command line only

shunty

[Edited by shunty - 6/19/2002 3:41:49 PM]

[Edited by ChrisB - 6/19/2002 4:02:13 PM]

chiark

Have a google search for data destruction utility. You'll be amazed what you *can* recover from a supposedly deleted/fdisked/formatted hard drive, apparently. Even if bits have been reset...

...although the expense to recover something in such a manner is normally quite high, so the reward of the data recovered has to be worth the cost of recovering it!

chiark

Shunty - naughty boy... Edit it, or it will be edited.

ChristianR

iTrader: (1)

what is the best util for restoring data that has been deleted?

druddle

On a similar note, is there a utility that enables you to get data back again after its been deleted, formatted, etc

I have a problem (this thread) where i have lost the partition header info and if i cant get it back i will have to reformat the partition.

Hope i dont have to use it as I will try created an ASR disk later (XP Pro)

Dave

shunty

ooppss chrisB & Chiark...sorry

shutny

[Edited by shunty - 6/19/2002 5:32:08 PM]

shunty

thought I was pasting into notepad & slipped onto scoobynet by mistake..

shunty

shunty

.

[Edited by shunty - 6/19/2002 5:37:05 PM]

super_si

load 98 boot disc dont do out

format c:\

does it

DrEvil

Use a sledge hammer!

carl

PGP comes with a 'wipe disk' facility which you can run with between 2 and 26 passes. Unsurprisingly (given the 26 bit) it writes a bunch of aaaaaaas, then a bunch of bbbbbbbs etc.

carl

PS: format c:\ does not wipe the disk!

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

http://www.killdisk.com/

super_si

doesnt it??

shunty

shunty

shunty

carl - forgot about PGP...never used the wipe disk option myself though, only the encryption.

DJdunk - sounds nice....you got a copy

shunty

[Edited by shunty - 6/19/2002 6:32:43 PM]

boomer

From the PGP help...

"5 In the Volume box, select the disk or volume that you want PGP to wipe. Then, select the number of passes that you want PGP to perform. The recommended guidelines are:

§ 3 passes for personal use.

§ 10 passes for commercial use.

§ 18 passes for military use.

§ 26 passes for maximum security.

Commercial data recovery companies have been known to recover data that has been over written up to 9 times. PGP uses highly sophisticated patterns during each wipe to ensure that your sensitive data cannot be recovered."

The "maximum security" is along the same lines as companies that treat the "holes" from punched cards as a potential security risk (for those that remember punched cards!).

Remember the US spy plane that (crash) landed near China(?) - axes were used to wipe the disks there i believe!!

mb

shunty

so 26 passes for the salary.xls should do then

shunty

GaryCat

One of my ex-colleagues has a company http://www.itcelect.com/ that sell a utility to do this.

Gary