Wipe Free Space Experience

[GettinBi]

Has anyone tested a Wipe Free Space program?

I'm trying to prep old laptops for resale. I've re-imaged the hard drive using the F11 restore from hard drive, and run the Wipe free space from 3 different vendors.

My test results are based on an NTFS Undelete program. I ran this prior to wiping and found a number of directories and files show up that I'm pretty sure were there before I started. I run the Wipe, which is taking under an hour on 25GB of free space. I run the undelete software again and I can still see and undelete files!

Has anyone confirmed results of a successful wipe?

 

[fisheromacse]

i use DBAN to wipe old harddrives.

http://www.dban.org/

 

[GettinBi]

Yea, I was too, but it's a lot more work since it wipes out the F11 Restore option. I see all these "Wipe free space" programs floating around and using one of these seems like the ideal solution. If only they worked!

Thanks,

 

[Noway2]

Have you tried CC (Crap Cleaner)? According to the virus and malware forum it has a good reputation. I have used it for the wipe free space and it takes quite a long time to run. You can also choose the randomizer algorithm that you use.

 

[GettinBi]

Yes, tried this one first using the DOD settings. Ran for about 1/2 hour, but my basic free undelete program still pulled up dozens of directories, and I could restore files.

 

[Glenn9999]

Have you looked at any of these "restored" files? I wouldn't be surprised if these programs are just wiping the contents of the files but not wiping their allocation table entries...

It is not possible for anyone to acknowledge truth when their salary depends on them not doing it.

 

[iolair]

I used dban as well, and it works beautifully. Easy, too.

Iolair MacWalter
Network Engineer