How do I perform a low-level HD format???

[brouillet]

I want to wipe the contents of a HD on an older PC I want to donate, however I want to ensure that the contents are permanently erased. I don't want someone to be able to run a data recovery app. and restore the contents. Please help. THanks!

 

[ojai00]

The best way to do it is to go the website of the hard drive manufacturer and download the utility. There's usually options there for you to do a low-level format or a zero-fill. Hope this helps.

 

[Nothinman]

If they want the data bad enough they can send it to one of those ultra-expensive data recovery places even if you've zero-filled the drive.

 

[ianbergman]

if you really want the data to be secure, you'll want to write zeros or shred the data about ten times. that'll make it close to impossible for even the best data-recovery sites to get data out of it.

but yes, check the drive manufacturer's site, like ojai said.

 

[brouillet]

Thank you all for the ideas and support!

 

[Jeff7]

First, zap the drive. Put ZAP and Fdisk on a boot disk. Then run "fdisk /mbr" then do "zap 0" to zap the primary master. It deletes all file allocation and partition data. Then fdisk and format the drive using "format c: /u" - the /u ensures that the drive can't be unformatted again. Then put it as a slave drive on another computer and run some data wiper utility on it a few times. Then format it again and run the wiper again. That should take care of anything on it.

 

[Devistater]

BTW, all of this will only ensure that the normal data centers can't recover it. If someone paid enough money (like hundreds of thousands of dollars) you could still recover the data with some electron scanning techniques. I don't remember the details, but I remember reading about some sorta quantum tunneling scanner or something that could still recover the original data. So really, there's no way to be totally safe beyond destroying the hard drive Anyway, the normal techniques of writing 0's on the whole hard drive several times in succession should take care of all but the most determined people.