Wiping data completely

[stevo1210]

A family friend of mine just upgraded his aging HP P4 desktop computer that his family uses. They only have one PC for the whole house to share and I did suggest he keep it for the kids but he only wanted one PC so he could monitor the kids.
Anyway, he is a heavy bank user and so forth and he's got family photos, music and excel spreadsheets etc which have been transferred to the new PC.
He is throwing the HP out at the e-waste dump so he wants to know how to delete all the data completely to never be recovered. I suggested a reformat but he said that wasn't good enough. I also suggested setting the hard drive on fire but he reckons that's a waste of resources.
I did some research online and he is indeed right and a simple reformat to re-install Windows isn't good enough. Is there any free software out there which can re-write and erase or whatever it is to delete data?

[stevo1210]

Re: Wiping data completely

Just found something called DBAN. Will it work on an older P4? I read that it doesnt support new HDD controllers?

Planning to do a DBAN ---> reformat with Windows and then donate to charity instead of e-waste. (hopefully he agrees to this idea)

[selldoor]

Re: Wiping data completely

Cant he use it as a slave drive -or perhaps in a usb drive case

But yes Dban sounds just the job - you could even try a free recovery program like pandora just to see if you could recover any files after using it

[stevo1210]

Re: Wiping data completely

I just looked into something called eraser for windows. I dunno if this works, but can I just make life easy and delete all the important files on there without re-installing windows as it is time consuming. Then defragment the hard drive so everything is moved into appropriate places, then just run wipes on the free space remaining?

The hard drive is IDE, and the new PC uses SATA. That's the turning point.

[Gariarto]

Re: Wiping data completely

Geez, just put a 'kin hammer thru the HD top cover and be done. Or have some fun and put a round thru it !
Then use it as a paperwieght with fond memories.

[selldoor]

Re: Wiping data completely

@Gariarto It may have escaped your notice but we are heavily into not trashing things on this site. Stevo is simply trying to save the disk so that he can donate the PC to a charitable cause. If you have nothing constructive to say - dont bother.

[Spitz]

Re: Wiping data completely

A family friend of mine just upgraded his aging HP P4 desktop computer that his family uses. They only have one PC for the whole house to share and I did suggest he keep it for the kids but he only wanted one PC so he could monitor the kids.

I did some research online and he is indeed right and a simple reformat to re-install Windows isn't good enough. Is there any free software out there which can re-write and erase or whatever it is to delete data?

Most drive manufacturers have a program that is free to download called zero disk. It writes a code to every location and is supposed to take the drive back to factory. I have used this and have not been able to recover data after using it.

[lcdman]

Re: Wiping data completely

Hello All,

This is the program I use. It does what others have said they use. Just thought I'd give another FREE alternative. Also great to see you recycling rather than smash or shoot it.

http://download.cnet.com/Active-Kill...ml?tag=mncol;1

Take Care,
lcdman

[ratdude747]

Re: Wiping data completely

Hopefully it is legit e-waste and not a "chinese dumpster" bogus scheme...

Although I personally would, after wiping the HDD, reinstall the OS to the machine and either keep it as a spare or donate to someone ore someplace that truely could use it... I hate seeing perfectly good things going to waste (hence why I was opposed to cash 4 clunkers).

[kc8adu]

Re: Wiping data completely

dban it.
tla's will have trouble getting it back.
reload the system as a spare or a donation.

[demented_demon]

Re: Wiping data completely

I would either DBAN or Parted Magic, just to give another alternative to DBAn
http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Parted Magic has the secure erase feature that sends a command to the disk controller to securely wipe all data from the disk, seems quite effective at wiping HDD's and SDD.

[Gariarto]

Re: Wiping data completely

Alright, alright guys, just trying to be light hearted, don't get bent out of shape. Up here in the Northern Catskills our "E-Dump" is a seperate dumpster than general, glass or metal at the town transfer station. Anything going in there worth salvaging gets battered by the next piece thrown in. When you say dump out here that's just what it is.

[pfrcom]

Re: Wiping data completely

Just found something called DBAN. Will it work on an older P4?

Sure does - I've used it on i845, i865 & i875 based systems

[Time2Retire]

Re: Wiping data completely

Actually, the best way to make data on a drive inaccessible is to destroy the platters (disks) inside of it. I actually disassemble old drives and remove the platters. They seem to have an aluminum base, with a metallic coating. I put the disk in a vice and heat it with a propane torch, it melts it and makes it unreadable.

Wear leather gloves, as they remain hot for a while! There are also good magnets inside a drive. I have two holding down my shower curtain.

[c_hegge]

Re: Wiping data completely

If I want to keep the HDD working, then I just use Active@ Killdisk, like lcdman. It's free and it does the job

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Wiping data completely

I think every hard disk manufacturer's diagnostic can completely erase their own brand of drives. Also diagnostics like HDDscan, MHDD, and HDAT2 will do that.

[joshnz]

Re: Wiping data completely

I just low level format with the hard drives manufacturer's disk utility.
I also use winhex.

[momaka]

Re: Wiping data completely

Active@Killdisk is nice, but I prefer this one:
http://hddguru.com/software/HDD-LLF-...l-Format-Tool/
Not sure what this new version is like, though. The old one isn't bootable and this one likely isn't either, so that may be something to consider (i.e. you'll probably need to format the drive from another computer).

[Agent24]

Re: Wiping data completely

Alright, alright guys, just trying to be light hearted, don't get bent out of shape. Up here in the Northern Catskills our "E-Dump" is a seperate dumpster than general, glass or metal at the town transfer station. Anything going in there worth salvaging gets battered by the next piece thrown in. When you say dump out here that's just what it is.

Yeah, if you want to recycle, sell the thing or even just give it away. Freecycle.org is a good site for getting rid of just about anything you don't want, if you don't want to sell them.

[shovenose]

Re: Wiping data completely

Here are some options:
-DBAN
-SuperFdisk