Breaking a laptop...

[Armistad123]

Hey guys, i have some EXTREMELEY important stuff on this laptop that i dont want anybody to see, and this laptop is very old, like 5 years old so i want to know how i can totally destroy it. Like totally wipe everything out..make it useless. However for certain reasons..i dont really want to tell you guys...but i cant make it look like i destroyed it/broke it.

Can any of you guys help me out?

 

[StraightPipe]

if you still have access to the laptop you can low format, that will write 0's to the whole drive, could blame it on a virus.

that way you wouldnt physically damage anything, but no more data.

Edit:but AT really frowns on the illegal activities thing

 

[Cogman]

There is ways to do it, but I got a bad fealing that the sensitive data is illegal.

 

[Armistad123]

Its not illegal...its just that ive been getting all these viruses lately so ive made a backup of all my info on a zip disk and i want to destroy this laptop. The reason i dont want it to look like ive messed with anything is because i dont want my room mate to know about it...i know it seems kind of weird but the situation is complicated, but i can assure you its not illegal or anything.

 

[wetcat007]

goto download.com and find a program that'll overwrite with 0's 16 times or more, then it'll be unretrievable.. does this involve the RIAA by any chance?

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: Armistad123
Its not illegal...its just that ive been getting all these viruses lately so ive made a backup of all my info on a zip disk and i want to destroy this laptop. The reason i dont want it to look like ive messed with anything is because i dont want my room mate to know about it...i know it seems kind of weird but the situation is complicated, but i can assure you its not illegal or anything.

uh regular format should get rid of viruses......

 

[Ionizer86]

Theoretically you supposedly need to low-level format 9 times before the data is completely nonrecoverable. Or take the hard drive apart, swipe a huge magnet over it a few times, let dust get in, blowtorch it, etc Much easier (and more fun) than low level formatting 9x times!

 

[Armistad123]

Thanks guys...how do i low level format?

 

[Ionizer86]

Um, with software like Maxtor Powmax...?

 

[0roo0roo]

freeware program called eraser. set it up 7x+ wipe mode.

 

[Abhi]

Norton Utilities has a Wipe Free Space feature. Its called "Wipe Info". It cleans the hard disk under a secure "Government Wipe" mode and makes deleted files unreadble. Also, you can simply specify how many times you want this to be done and go to sleep.

I think there is a trial version available at www.symantec.com

 

[Pandaren]

Remove the HDD. Low level format it nine times, run a huge magnet over it, and then drill holes through the drive with a power drill. That should kill it for good.

 

[Gunbuster]

because i dont want my room mate to know about it

Just format the drive and reload windows, I really doubt the roommate is going to bust out with NSA data recovery tools to see your naked pictures or whatever

 

[StraightPipe]

Originally posted by: Gunbuster

because i dont want my room mate to know about it

Just format the drive and reload windows, I really doubt the roommate is going to bust out with NSA data recovery tools to see your naked pictures or whatever

ha!

 

[compudog]

Here and here. Google is your friend!

 

[murphy55d]

Spill Mountain Dew all over it.

 

[vetteguy]

You're trying to do an NSA level wipe of the data on this hard drive so no one could possibly see it, yet your backups are on a Zip disk??? Why am I getting the feeling that this might not be YOUR laptop...

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Abhi
Norton Utilities has a Wipe Free Space feature. Its called "Wipe Info". It cleans the hard disk under a secure "Government Wipe" mode and makes deleted files unreadble. Also, you can simply specify how many times you want this to be done and go to sleep.

I think there is a trial version available at http://www.symantec.com

Unless Systemworks is on a WinXP PC - then the Wipe Free Space option vanishes. Nifty feature, eh?

Just tried Eraser; it seems good; the price is right too.

Edit: It appears that the original author stopped updating Eraser. Here's the new maintainer.

 

[yhelothar]

low level format 9 times....
hmmmm that must take like 3 weeks..
cuz doesn't it take like 10 hours just to do one low level format?

 

[Abhi]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Unless Systemworks is on a WinXP PC - then the Wipe Free Space option vanishes. Nifty feature, eh? .

Hmmm...
Didnt know that!! sorry

I have noticed that the Rescue Disk feature dissappears in Norton Antivirus when its on a Win XP PC...
I still cudnt figure out why!!

The Help File states..
Note: Rescue Disks can be made for Windows 98 and Windows Me systems; they are not needed for Windows NT, Window 2000, or Windows XP systems.

I wonder why!
Maybe its just that they havent developed a startup disk that ll scan NTFS partitions

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
low level format 9 times....
hmmmm that must take like 3 weeks..
cuz doesn't it take like 10 hours just to do one low level format?

Hehe, yup. Of course it depends on the size of your HDD. Even one low level format should be enough, unless some real experts will be trying to recover the data. 9 times is a lot, but it'll guarantee unrecoverable data.