Data retrieval and scrubbing from a Win 98 PC

[weberm]

Due to a death in the family last week and me being the "computer expert", I was tasked with recovering data from a Packard Bell Win98 machine with a floppy disk and CD drive. It appears my late uncle installed a USB port but not a driver (when I stick in a memory stick, it asks me for one). My request is two-fold:
[ol]
[li]Can someone recommend a USB driver?[/li]
[li]Can anyone recommend a "memory scrubber" to wipe all sensitive data from the computer before we give away?[/li]
[/ol]There is question as to whether the CD drive is working (I could not find one to verify) and could not use the dial-up modem. My ideal solution would be to use a memory stick to fetch the data and load a memory scrubber (a CD or diskette(s) if that doesn't work), but since I'm flying back home tonight, I will need something simple enough to explain over the phone.

 

[ANFPS26]

Here is a USB driver that works on win 98:

http://toastytech.com/files/cruzerwin95.html

Jim

 

[ANFPS26]

As for the memory wipe, there are several solutions on a Google search. Here is one:

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6618_102-245651.html

Jim

 

[weberm]

Actually, I was looking for something that wipes free space and leave the decision to remove what's left on it to whoever we give the computer. I checked Gizmo's site but it appears none of the ones there work on Win98.

 

[rclarke250]

Just to be safe, it's better to run something like DBAN.

http://www.dban.org/

If you just delete the user files, they can be brought back, any number of programs can bring back deleted files, and deleted partitions, I've used many, and was able to bring back 13 partitions on a rental laptop, and was able to get info and passwords, for websites, and such, on the different partitions. Nuke it, and restore from the disks if you can find them, if not, load Linux on it, as it more than likely is too old for anything current and not worth the money to upgrade it.

 

[BadBigBen]

I agree with RClarke250 there...

though CCleaner does what you want it to do, e.g. delete all the unneeded files and then whipe unused space... though I am not sure if it is thorough enough...

but it would be better to just go ahead and do a FULL wipe on the HDD... or remove the HDD and bash it with a sledgehammer... ;-)



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[edfair]

I have created junk files and copied them under different names to fill all available space, then deleted. Not a multiple wipe like some would like but anything that was not associated with a file was overwritten.

Made the files large enough that there were no sectors unwritten.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[strongm]

>Not a multiple wipe like some would like

And which really isn't needed these days. The 'best practice' idea that this is necessary is based on a mid-nineties research paper by Peter Guttman that was rendered obsolete by changes in disk drive technology - the original author himself added apilogies to the paper to say it was no longer necessary, but got ignored.

Still, if it makes you feel better ...

Or get hold of the free HDDErase which calls the built-in secure (single pass) erase feature of all SATA drives.

 

[strongm]

Guttman's paper:

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html

 

[BadBigBen]

Strongm,

if the drive that held Win98 was a SATA drive, I am quite sure that would work... but seeing that it most likely is an IDE/PATA drive, using a "sledgehammer" is the more appropriate way to deal with it, and it is lots of fun and stress relieving...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[hotfusion]

Why destroy a perfectly good hard drive? Send it to me - I collect them!

Seriously though, is the erased data really that sensitive? I would be surprised if Mr Average Joe would even know how to recover deleted files, let alone actually want to bother.

If this computer once did hold really sensitive material that could destroy you if it was discovered, there is a little application which runs from a boot floppy called Killdisk.

It will overwrite the entire drive multiple times if you want it to, making data recovery on that drive as near as makes no difference, impossible.

Bearing in mind the age of the computer, it would have limited use now and would best given to someone who knows how to re-install win98 and find the drivers for the hardware, in which case they wouldn't bother that the drive had been wiped of all data.

As for the USB driver, search Google with the following string:
unofficial usb stack win98

Once installed, this will turn up pages linking to this useful bit of software which will enable all USB memory cards/sticks that I've encountered to work once you've allowed the driver to be installed upon request. (Don't specify a location for the driver when asked, just let Windows find it in the default location.)

Regards, Andy.
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
My home page

 

[hotfusion]

Can't edit these posts, can we??
I managed to mangle the last paragraph of my post - it should read something like:

This will turn up pages linking to this useful bit of software which will enable all USB memory cards/sticks that I've encountered to work.

Download the driver and install it, and restart.

When you plug in a memory stick, Windows will prompt for a driver. Don't specify a location for the driver when asked, just let Windows find it in the default location.

Regards, Andy.
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
My home page

 

[strongm]

>most likely is an IDE/PATA

I Should have been more precise: any ATA (just another name for IDE) drive since about 2000, whether serial (SATA) or parallel (PATA).

And the point remains, a single overwrite is sufficient.

 

[micker377]

For REALLY wiping a Hard Drive, I use a debug script (14 lines), called "MBR Wipe Out". It actually puts your drive back to "factory fresh" - like the day it came from the factory! By the time that the disk is partitioned and formatted, I don't know if anyone could do a sector by by sector reconstruction.

 

[strongm]

Killing the MBR does NOT put your drive back to factory fresh. At all. It just gives that impression.

 

[weberm]

I agree that using DBAN to totally nuke the drive is the best option, but I'm not sure if whoever gets the computer next will know what to do with it. I did discover my uncle was something of a hoarder and might still have the original installation disks buried somewhere in the basement among his IBM PC Jr parts and gigantic floppy disks... I'll need to ask what my aunt wants to do with the computer once she retrieves the photos she wants from it.

 

[weberm]

I confirmed from my aunt that the CD drive is broken so I'm sending her a floppy with the flash drive and instructions. Once we've retrieved the pics, I'll ask about nuking the hard drive...