How do u format a HD so its completely unrecoverable?

I sell/trade HDs a lot and even If format before I do so, I wonder if any of my files will ever be recovered by the person that has my HD. Even though a lot of my files aren’t that private, I don’t like the idea of someone snooping through what use to be my files.

I hear about programs like Evidence Eliminator that promise to delete your files unrecoverable.
Evidence Eliminators website claims to destroy in one click:
• Deleted filenames, sizes and attributes from drive directory structures
• Free cluster space ("Slack") from all file tips
• Magnetic remenance from underneath existing files/folders

I don’t understand most of that lingo (there is more on there website). Is what there saying true?

I use system mechanic 4 made by iolo and one of the features is drive scrubber here are the
KEY FEATURES
DriveScrubber is equipped with the following features:

· Data removal techniques specially designed to eradicate data, making future recovery completely impossible, even by the most sophisticated methods.

· Sector over-write algorithms that exceed standards set forth by the specifications issued from the United States Department of Defense and other international military and governmental agencies.

· The ability to verify all sector overwrites performed, thus assuring that all data is gone from a technical level, once and for all.

· Logging features that meet government and military data destruction record specifications, providing an easy method of keeping track of processed drives.

· Compatibility with all hard drives and drive interfaces (SCSI, IDE, EIDE, etc.), regardless of installed file systems (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, FFS, EXT2FS, etc.), and even if there is NO File System on the drive! ANY drive formatted or unformatted using ANY operating system can be cleaned; Windows 3.x, 95/98/ME, and NT/2000/XP, as well as Linux, Unix, and Macintosh.

Somewhere in these forums there is a very nice thread burried that had to do with hard drive DESTRUCTION. Or to make all teh data unrecoverable, even if the drive was going to be history after that.

Some guys had a lot of input with that, I am sitting here with my baby in my lap, but if he goes to sleep I'll search for it..

I dont think there is a way to make it completly unrecoverable other than completly destroying the drive.

dont worry about it at best they could only snoop through fragments left behind and try and put a puzzle together sorry dont think anyone goes there for fun Bro what you hiddin lol

here's a couple,,,,,,,,,,,

http://www.disk-wiper.net/


http://www.active-disk-wiper.com/

i have a free one called eraser. if you want it i can email it to you. it can delete files with some wicked algorithems which writtes on the hd about 30 times (approved by the FBI) so the files are GONE. it can also wipe empty space on the hard drive. and its free.

obviously it takes a while to delete files. but there are different algorithems some are much faster and still very very secure.

i dont even know why i got the program. still have it though

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Free, bootable FD/CD that has a few different wiping leves (including the 30-something pass Gutmann option). This should work with everything. I'm not sure if it requires a partition to be in place to perform the wipe, but it shouldn't be too hard to add one that covers the whole disk (free PartitionMagic clone(QtParted) included with System Rescue CD)).

outhouse said:

....Bro what you hiddin lol

Click to expand...

oooo nothing........

use the GNU toolkit command dd


"dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda bs=8192

fills the drive with zero bytes, overwriting everything that was there before.

Remaking the filesystems leaves the previous data intact but destroys the pointers to it.

With the first way, your data is really gone, with the second way, your data can be recovered by restoring the pointers manually. It isn't easy, but it can be done.

Regards,

NeddySeagoon"

Was thinking about this the other day, convert to ntfs, record video until drive is filled?

Typically, a DOD spec disk erase uses at least 8 passes of various algorithms fully overwriting the drive to clear it. Better recovery programs can scavenge information from disks that have been low level formatted or even several passes with such utilities. Mr Radar's link to DBAN is a good one. It is very secure and the price is right. Just plan on it taking some time.

Xaotic said:

Typically, a DOD spec disk erase uses at least 8 passes of various algorithms fully overwriting the drive to clear it. Better recovery programs can scavenge information from disks that have been low level formatted or even several passes with such utilities.

Click to expand...

Any links? NO program should be able to recover after a single pass of zeroing the drive, let alone several. When a drive is zeroed, the data no longer exists to be recovered.

Actually, that's wrong. When a drive is zeroed, the data no longer exists as far as the drive itself is concerned. The drive's physical hardware can BARELY distinguish the minute magnetic 'imprint' left behind by simply zeroing the drive. This magnetic imprint looks like noise on the order of 1% (or less) of total signal strength to the drive, so is totaly ignored.

To read drives that have been zeroed, they either hook the drive's head up to a (very expensive) machine which is sensitive enough to not think the imprint is noise and re-create a somewhat accurate image of the drive. If it's been zeroed several times (DoD style), they can skip using the drive's head alltogether (since it's no longer sensitive enough to make out any differences) and use a machine which can read stuff that is EXTREMELY faint.

Both recovery methods cost at least a good grand, probably more. The first method is what data recovery services will use if you kill your drive appropriatly and tell them cost is no option. The second is what the government would use if it really needed the info.

JigPu

If you're reselling drives that previously contained personal information I think that taking a few hours to do a DoD wipe is good, cheap insurance.

Some low level format programs are better than others. I have personally been able to get some data off after a LLF with PC Inspector, not a complete image, but data nonetheless. A straight LLF is usually the easiest to recover data from, all it does is move the values below the level that reads as zero on the magnetic strength(some disks being easier to scavenge than others). This is why all of the DoD spec erasers use multiple passes including random and algorithm based writes to the drive to clean it. Perhaps, I wasn't clear enough, I was referring to several passes of LLF, not DoD spec utilities. Even a single run of a multiple pass DoD spec utility would be sufficient to prevent recovery of any drive information.

JigPu so what ur telling me is that the poeple that get my drive wont be able to get anything if i do DoD type of file deletion unless they have very expensive equipment. o dont most of u poeple have these machines at ur reach....right?

Xaotic said:

Some low level format programs are better than others. I have personally been able to get some data off after a LLF with PC Inspector, not a complete image, but data nonetheless. A straight LLF is usually the easiest to recover data from, all it does is move the values below the level that reads as zero on the magnetic strength(some disks being easier to scavenge than others). This is why all of the DoD spec erasers use multiple passes including random and algorithm based writes to the drive to clean it. Perhaps, I wasn't clear enough, I was referring to several passes of LLF, not DoD spec utilities. Even a single run of a multiple pass DoD spec utility would be sufficient to prevent recovery of any drive information.

Click to expand...

Aaah, sorry it was me screwing up the wording. Yeah, zeroing is really easy to recover from (since the 'noise' it hears is exactly the old signal), and a single DoD wipe would pretty much eliminate quite a bit. Do the DoD to spec, and nothing's left

I'll have to do some more research on PC Inspector. Very interesting that you managed to recover data, so off to learn more


@Blueboy:
Pretty much. A format is OK if you're not concerned about security. When selling a drive with possible info, I'd be concerened, so at a miniumum you should zero the drive. Using a DoD type would be even better since (like Xaotic said) it writes specially crafted data to the disk to eliminate much of the chance that even specialized hardware could recover the data. The only downside is that it takes longer, but if you're willing to wait, there's no reason not to If not, there's no reason not to stop at zeroing for most purposes.

JigPu

If you don't want you or anyone else to use it just take a hammer to it.

I have the free utility "eraser" (mentioned above) as well and works great

I am certify in the disposition of DoD (AR) harddrives and its take a lot of patience to recovery data, so unless you have something that someone really want then your at low risk, but nonetheless if you concern that someone might recover data from your disk, then disk eraser is a exceptionally good program. Otherwise the fault proof method is to complete physically destroying or degaussing the harddrive.