Secure disk erase

[BentMikey]

Can anyone recommend a freeware tool to securely wipe all the empty space left on a re-installed PC? I'm selling a notebook and thought it would be best to wipe the remaining empty space properly.

 

[wafflycat]

Re-format the entire disk?

 

[BentMikey]

Sadly that would be too easy, but it's not a secure erase. I'm looking for a multiple re-write utility that will prevent recovery of deleted files.

 

[adscrim]

I believe that the only truly secure way to protect deleted files is with a hammer. Have you looked on ebay for a replacement hard drive? They're easy enough to switch over.

 

[rb58]

There are products out there, such as this - http://tinyurl.com/ykyk85u - that industry uses to wipe PC hard drives before re-furb or disposal. No idea how effective they are though, but I believe there is an accepted standard which these products comply with.

 

[dodgy]

Use DBAN or GDISK (GDISK is a component of Norton Ghost). DBAN will completely and securely remove any data from the disk, no realistic way to restore anything afterwards.

http://www.dban.org/

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, I have no need for ultimate security. I simply want to follow due diligence since there was minimal customer data on that disk. Basically emails, phone numbers.

 

[TheDoctor]

DBAN will do it. It writes random crap to every sector.
In a previous job I used this for secure wipes and checking the entire disk surface.
Takes a while though - it's a set-it-off-and-do-sommat-else-for-a-few-hours job.

 

[Carwash]

Another +1 for Darik's Boot And Nuke.

 

[2Loose]

Did you want to only wipe currently UNUSED parts of the disk, or the whole thing?
If the whole thing, then DBAN is great...

If just files or already unused space then Sysinternals SDelete is the program you want.

All free.

 

[BentMikey]

Nice one chaps, thanks! I should have remembered sdelete, LOL! That's the one I used, though DBAN would have been just as good as it's a laptop with a quick restore.

 

[Vapin' Joe]

I have heard data recovery experts claim that if you have the time and the expertise anything that has been written to a hard drive can be recovered, no matter how many times it was over-written. I don't know myself, but hard drives are cheap enough now to replace completely if you are at all unsure.

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, I have no need for ultimate security. I simply want to follow due diligence since there was minimal customer data on that disk. Basically emails, phone numbers.

This is why...

 

[magnatom]

I find waving a hard disk fairly close to an MRI scanner tends to do the trick. Very hard to get it working again though....


(Disclaimer: Whilst Magnatom would like to leave readers thinking that he has the required bravado and recklessness to undertake such a proceedure, he would like to point, in case anyone from H&S is reading, that he has at no time taken a hard disk into an MRI scanner room. There would be too many risk assessment forms to fill in.....)

 

[jonesy]

I have heard data recovery experts claim that if you have the time and the expertise anything that has been written to a hard drive can be recovered, no matter how many times it was over-written. I don't know myself, but hard drives are cheap enough now to replace completely if you are at all unsure.

I'd be rather sceptical that this is true of 'anything', implying 'everything'- no hard drive has infinite storage capacity.