Secure delete

[WillieLoMain]

I am wondering what the available methods are for permanently rendering the data on the drive unrecoverable.

I understand that there are progiies that alleg to do this but I am skeptical.

I also am wondering if a low level (actually would be Mid level) format of the drive with s/w from the disk drive mfg would accomplish this.

Thanx in advance

 

[TekTippy4U]

I guess if you write all "zeros to disk"...it's a gone-er......I have this manu. program on mt sys. restore CD.....

and if you LLF....I would go to manu. website for program to do the trick (should be free, i think)......if unavailable.....there are third party s/w that'll do it.....you need the 'right' one though...the 3rd party program needs to have the manu codes...

Some s/w doesn't do the LLF thing right so be careful

TT4U

ps 3rd party s/w suggestions available if needed.......

 

[TekTippy4U]

There are also third party programs that will "shred" your files as you go(that might even be the name of one 'fileshredder').......I guess you can adjust the parameters to shred at time intervals.....

It may be a plan.....

TT4U

 

[WillieLoMain]

I dont see that kill is a dos command - perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Exploring the mid level format option with the mfg now - still wondering if that will render the data unrecoverable by any means (seems logical but want to be more certain)

thanx

 

[TekTippy4U]

Who's the manu......I may have a link if necessary....

TT4U

 

[WillieLoMain]

have several

seagate
western dig
maxstore

thanx

 

[TekTippy4U]

Not sure how active all of them are...I checked IBM and Quantum(I think), not too long ago......
here you go;
ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/seagate_utils/sgatft4.zip

http://www.maxtor.com/softwaredownload/utilities.html

http://www.wdc.com/service/ftp/wddiag/wd_diag.exe

http://www.quantum.com/support/csr/software/csr_software.htm

http://www.storage.ibm.com/techsup/hddtech/welcome.htm

If you have any problems accessing.....
as an example: try leaving off the /wd_diag.exe, part so you don't start dopwmloading right away....
Maybe you'd like to explore a page with info on it first..

TT4U

 

[Peahippo]

Obsoleting data is a matter of proper functioning and how much risk and loss you are willing to accept.

If you are willing to take the financial loss of the hard drive itself, then destroy it. Either take a sledge hammer to it, or open it up, remove the platters, and crack each one in two. (Wear eye protection, and watch out for sharp edges.)

If you want to do a soft delete, then there's no need to low-level format, repartition, or anything like that. All you need is a program that will write, write, and write for days. A real data-killing program will write all kinds of patterns to each real sector on the disk to force edge effects to blur into randomness. This will preserve the disk's usability after the treatment, while assuredly wiping your data away.

Data destruction on those disk platters is a matter of repetition, not lower and lower levels of formatting. The iron compounds on those disks have too much memory for old data.

 

[TekTippy4U]

Good to know.......

thanks

TT4U

 

[wolluf]

There's always

http://www.killdisk.com/features.htm