What software is there that will COMPLETELY ERASE a hard-drive?

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SylEm

Senior member
Mar 11, 2005
311
0
0
Hi, I'm giving my old computer to my friend once I bulid my new gaming system and I need to know the best software out there that can fully erase an entire hard-drive so its clean of everything (music, movies, porn, etc), that way when I give it to him its a clean system. Can you help me out?

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bersl2

Golden Member
Aug 2, 2004
1,617
0
0
Thought you should know:
Q: Is the Gutmann method the best method?

A: No.

Most of the passes in the Gutmann wipe are designed to flip the bits in MFM/RLL encoded disks, which is an encoding that modern hard disks do not use.

In a followup to his paper, Gutmann said that it is unnecessary to run those passes because you cannot be reasonably certain about how a modern hard disk stores data on the platter. If the encoding is unknown, then writing random patterns is your best strategy.

In particular, Gutmann says that "in the time since this paper was published, some people have treated the 35-pass overwrite technique described in it more as a kind of voodoo incantation to banish evil spirits than the result of a technical analysis of drive encoding techniques. As a result, they advocate applying the voodoo to PRML and EPRML drives even though it will have no more effect than a simple scrubbing with random data... For any modern PRML/EPRML drive, a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".
Click to expand...

Read the DBAN FAQ for links to the papers mentioned.

If he ever had data on there that he never wants seen by anybody else, the only way to completely destroy that data is to obliterate the disk.

But for just clearing a disk, DBAN works well.
 
L

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Originally posted by: bersl2
Thought you should know:
Q: Is the Gutmann method the best method?

A: No.

Most of the passes in the Gutmann wipe are designed to flip the bits in MFM/RLL encoded disks, which is an encoding that modern hard disks do not use.

In a followup to his paper, Gutmann said that it is unnecessary to run those passes because you cannot be reasonably certain about how a modern hard disk stores data on the platter. If the encoding is unknown, then writing random patterns is your best strategy.

In particular, Gutmann says that "in the time since this paper was published, some people have treated the 35-pass overwrite technique described in it more as a kind of voodoo incantation to banish evil spirits than the result of a technical analysis of drive encoding techniques. As a result, they advocate applying the voodoo to PRML and EPRML drives even though it will have no more effect than a simple scrubbing with random data... For any modern PRML/EPRML drive, a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".
Click to expand...

Read the DBAN FAQ for links to the papers mentioned.

If he ever had data on there that he never wants seen by anybody else, the only way to completely destroy that data is to obliterate the disk.

But for just clearing a disk, DBAN works well.
Click to expand...
What about writing 0's to the entire drive?

Seagate has a tool for this. (Don't know if it will work on non-Seagate drives though).

List of HDD MFR's tools for low level formats (from multiple mfr's)
 
N

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
0
Originally posted by: Lonyo
Originally posted by: bersl2
Thought you should know:
Q: Is the Gutmann method the best method?

A: No.

Most of the passes in the Gutmann wipe are designed to flip the bits in MFM/RLL encoded disks, which is an encoding that modern hard disks do not use.

In a followup to his paper, Gutmann said that it is unnecessary to run those passes because you cannot be reasonably certain about how a modern hard disk stores data on the platter. If the encoding is unknown, then writing random patterns is your best strategy.

In particular, Gutmann says that "in the time since this paper was published, some people have treated the 35-pass overwrite technique described in it more as a kind of voodoo incantation to banish evil spirits than the result of a technical analysis of drive encoding techniques. As a result, they advocate applying the voodoo to PRML and EPRML drives even though it will have no more effect than a simple scrubbing with random data... For any modern PRML/EPRML drive, a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".
Click to expand...

Read the DBAN FAQ for links to the papers mentioned.

If he ever had data on there that he never wants seen by anybody else, the only way to completely destroy that data is to obliterate the disk.

But for just clearing a disk, DBAN works well.
Click to expand...
What about writing 0's to the entire drive?

Seagate has a tool for this. (Don't know if it will work on non-Seagate drives though).

List of HDD MFR's tools for low level formats (from multiple mfr's)
Click to expand...

That's not enough. It's better to write random 1's and 0's, but if the data is THAT important the disk should be destroyed.
 
M

MercenaryForHire

Lifer
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
2
0
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: Lonyo
Originally posted by: bersl2
Thought you should know:
Q: Is the Gutmann method the best method?

A: No.

Most of the passes in the Gutmann wipe are designed to flip the bits in MFM/RLL encoded disks, which is an encoding that modern hard disks do not use.

In a followup to his paper, Gutmann said that it is unnecessary to run those passes because you cannot be reasonably certain about how a modern hard disk stores data on the platter. If the encoding is unknown, then writing random patterns is your best strategy.

In particular, Gutmann says that "in the time since this paper was published, some people have treated the 35-pass overwrite technique described in it more as a kind of voodoo incantation to banish evil spirits than the result of a technical analysis of drive encoding techniques. As a result, they advocate applying the voodoo to PRML and EPRML drives even though it will have no more effect than a simple scrubbing with random data... For any modern PRML/EPRML drive, a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".
Click to expand...

Read the DBAN FAQ for links to the papers mentioned.

If he ever had data on there that he never wants seen by anybody else, the only way to completely destroy that data is to obliterate the disk.

But for just clearing a disk, DBAN works well.
Click to expand...
What about writing 0's to the entire drive?

Seagate has a tool for this. (Don't know if it will work on non-Seagate drives though).

List of HDD MFR's tools for low level formats (from multiple mfr's)
Click to expand...

That's not enough. It's better to write random 1's and 0's, but if the data is THAT important the disk should be destroyed.
Click to expand...

Exactly. What I want to know is why you're giving your "friend" this hard drive if you don't trust him enough not to try to dig up the past contents. :p

- M4H
 
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imported_chrisbtx

Senior member
Jun 8, 2004
601
0
0
I remember seeing one that apparantly worked very well by the name of Killdisk....


EDIT: Found it... Duh... I figured "why not try to type the name of the program and add .com to the end of it?" :confused:
 
N

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
professional version of kill disk + Gutmann's algorithm.

the free version of killdisk will probably do what you need it to do, though. only downside is that it can easily take several hours.
 
DanTMWTMP

DanTMWTMP

Lifer
Oct 7, 2001
15,908
19
81
wow, I never knew there were "Better" or more prefered ways to format a HDD...

I've always used fdisk :confused:
 
P

PlasticJesus

Senior member
Mar 16, 2001
412
0
0
Originally posted by: loki8481
professional version of kill disk + Gutmann's algorithm.

the free version of killdisk will probably do what you need it to do, though. only downside is that it can easily take several hours.
Click to expand...

Several hours? How many is several?

I used DBAN for the first time last week. Had no real idea what I was doing. Chose some Marselle or something or other option and chose 7 times through with verification or something or other on first and last pass. I forget the terms actually used. Started it and thought I'd go downstairs and eat and maybe it would be done when I got back. Took 8 hours and some odd minutes.

 
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BespinReactorShaft

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2004
3,190
0
0
The "ghetto" method would be to quick format the target HDD, and simply copy the same bunch of files (e.g. 10's of gigs of stuff you wouldn't mind anyone else to see) onto it. The best source of these files would of course be another HDD, but a CD or DVD would do fine as well (just make sure you've got heaps of time to kill). Then delete everything on the target HDD.
 
V

Vampirrella

Golden Member
Apr 5, 2001
1,211
0
71
why isnt plain old fdisk enough? i have a feeling theres more on this HDD then we wanna know about :)
 
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SylEm

Senior member
Mar 11, 2005
311
0
0
^^naw thats fine if thats the best method. I've just personally never formatted a HD before. I just wanna make sure when he gets it, its a clean system, I had some spyware n stuff on there and I want everything whiped out clean like if he started with a brand new machine....

1
 
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n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
0
A format will wipe everything off of the machine, but if you want it unrecoverable you'll have to do some work.
 
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