Cleansing a hard drive so noone can retrieve anything ever

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Holysmoke36

Member
Jul 16, 2005
89
0
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I use cyberscrub to erase data from hard drives, at least the Department of Defense standards.

I went to a good friends home and they had some files that could cause them harm as he was in the ministry.

I recommended we use cyberscrub and pay 50 bucks for it. Another tech he knew said just set the hard drive to zeros.

My question to you all is does setting the hard drive to zero keep both hardware and software forensics from retrieving data?

any articles or links would be greatly appreciated.
 
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NokiaDude

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2002
3,966
0
0
I use dban. It's free and it has a couple of options for wiping the drive. I use the quick wipe which writes zeroes to the drive. They also have the DOD wipe which does several passes and such.
 
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Holysmoke36

Member
Jul 16, 2005
89
0
0
I agree, but I am trying to convince them that we need to do that and not setting to zeros. I am wondering if setting to zeros is effective or not. dban is a complete erase of hard drive, I want to selectively erase the files in question
 
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FlyingPenguin

Golden Member
Nov 1, 2000
1,793
0
0
There are different layers security. DoD 5220 with 3 or 7 times overwrite is the accepted standard. This is more than adequate for normal people and data. This is NOT adequate for banks, and very secure military and government files. They can go to the extreme of using 35 passes and/or destroy the platters.

I use KillDisk 3.0 Pro to wipe an entire drive and use DoD 3 overwrites for casual stuff, DoD 7 if it's important. I prefer Killdisk to some of the free ones because of it's features. For one thing it lets you select the drive you want to delete (if you have multiple drives) and asks for confirmation (unless you disable it). And it supports multiple security schemes.

I use Eraser 5.7 for erasing individual files. Like Killdisk you can configure it for the number of overwrites. It integrates into the Explorer shell so when you right click on a file or folder you have an option to "Erase" as well as a non-secure "Delete". It also does 3, 7 or 35 overwrites: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4221



 
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HO

Senior member
May 23, 2000
216
0
0
Move desired data to new HD. Remove old HD containing BAD data, drive over it several times with your truck, then toss it on a bonfire.

100% effective.

Cost : about the same as the wiping software.
Peace of mind: Priceless.
 
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Holysmoke36

Member
Jul 16, 2005
89
0
0
Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
There are different layers security. DoD 5220 with 3 or 7 times overwrite is the accepted standard. This is more than adequate for normal people and data. This is NOT adequate for banks, and very secure military and government files. They can go to the extreme of using 35 passes and/or destroy the platters.

I use KillDisk 3.0 Pro to wipe an entire drive and use DoD 3 overwrites for casual stuff, DoD 7 if it's important. I prefer Killdisk to some of the free ones because of it's features. For one thing it lets you select the drive you want to delete (if you have multiple drives) and asks for confirmation (unless you disable it). And it supports multiple security schemes.

I use Eraser 5.7 for erasing individual files. Like Killdisk you can configure it for the number of overwrites. It integrates into the Explorer shell so when you right click on a file or folder you have an option to "Erase" as well as a non-secure "Delete". It also does 3, 7 or 35 overwrites: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4221
Click to expand...



thanks
 
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Holysmoke36

Member
Jul 16, 2005
89
0
0
a bunch of files called britney spears xxx, eminem xxx, teen porn xxx, etc.

I think it may have been a virus or spyware as these are not actual jpg files but exe files.
 
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Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
18,998
0
0
Yeah, Eraser does a good job on files/folders and it's a free download. If you need more secure than that, use a steamroller...

.bh.
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
what do you have on your machine that is that sensitive? or are you just paranoid? and if you are paranoid, why? i doubt anybody would go to any lengths that are required to retieve your data with more than just a single zero fill. again, assuming you are not a pedophile, mob guy or stealing documents from military bases.
 
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Holysmoke36

Member
Jul 16, 2005
89
0
0
not sure if you're bright enough to read the entire thread, but I clearly stated that it was a friends computer who was in the ministry.

porn files on a ministers computer is loss of income, loss of career, loss of reputation, etc. etc. etc.

and to even mention pedophile is fvkn ridiculous.
 
thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
9,673
583
126
I just use autoclave. Its free, comes in Floppy images and ISO's, and cleans really really good. You can use anywhere from a single pass 00000 fill all the way up to a 25 pass uber harddrive eraser. Granted it took us 8 hours to do a 3 pass on a 120GB drive. I couldn't imagine how long it would take to do 25 passes lol.
 
Chaotic42

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,869
2,032
126
If you don't need the drive, remove the platters and destroy them with a grinding wheel.
 
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