completely wiping a drive

[Slartibartfast]

Hey guys, I'm looking for an effective way to completely wipe an HD. I don't mean a crappy format that just marks the sectors as open, I want a complete write-over, getting the data as close to unrecoverable as possible. No, there's nothing illegit on it (it's my comp-illiterate gf's old lappy), I'm just paranoid, and we are going to be selling the comp. The thing is, the optical drive is busted so I'm looking for something that can boot off of a floppy. Would something like a win 98 boot disk with fdisk be sufficient? Or would I have to get into the hardware, and either pull out the hd, or replace the optical drive? If I used fdisk I'm assuming I would have to rewrite the parition table and then probably do a complete format a few times. Any ideas guys??

[feigned]

http://dban.sourceforge.net/

[Slartibartfast]

Thanks, I'll have to check it out when I get home. I love the name. Also, this little bit from the FAQ struck me as being funny:

The second most common problem with DBAN is bad hardware. If your computer normally crashes, then it will likely crash while running DBAN too. DBAN does not run on broken computers.

"If your comp is busted, this won't work" :p

[Lazn_Work]

I recommend a 1/2 stick of dynamite. Shotgun slugs, or even a sledgehammer work too.

Only way to be sure.

==>Lazn

[feigned]

I recommend a 1/2 stick of dynamite. Shotgun slugs, or even a sledgehammer work too.

Only way to be sure.

==>Lazn
I have to agree there. I have sold two hard drives before and I happened to use DBAN before I sent them out.

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Can't you just use a zero-fill utility like that from Western Digital? (WinDataLifeGuard).

[unhappy_mage]

That's what DBAN does, except with more options, and it'll work on other drives too.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/150072 (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=150072&tm=33)

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Err... WinDLG works on any drive type (USB, Firewire, IDE) regardless of brand.
It's a staple tool of mine :D (That together with IBM's DFT).

[Slartibartfast]

well this is a laptop, so it has to be a program i can use off of a boot disk. dban looks like it, i won't be attempting it for another month or so though, have to wait for the new one to be delivered

[Goonigoogoo]

From what i have heard there is no sure fire way to erase eveything off a HDD. I saw a show once on intelligence agencies, they were saying that old HDD's are put through a shredder and the remnants were stored in a secured location. So unless you are harboring nuclear launch codes you need not worry.

[santaliqueur]

From what i have heard there is no sure fire way to erase eveything off a HDD. I saw a show once on intelligence agencies, they were saying that old HDD's are put through a shredder and the remnants were stored in a secured location. So unless you are harboring nuclear launch codes you need not worry.
use killdisk (http://www.killdisk.com/). the professional version is US Department of Defense 5220.22 M compliant

[Kevlarman]

they were saying that old HDD's are put through a shredder and the remnants were stored in a secured location.

For ultra top secret stuff the remnants aren't even stored; they're melted down and made into a tank, bridge, or park bench. :eek:

[DougLite]

If you have XP Pro, "cipher /w:x:" , where x is the drive letter of volume you intend to clean, will zero then one fill the drive, follwed by random characters. Blow away the partition table, quick format a new partition, then let cipher go to town on it. That'll work too :cool:

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Hmm... didn't know that one :P
Hey DougLite, is that a VIA C3 in your sig?

[DougLite]

Yeppers, I have a C3 800 MHz Sameuel 2. It's a great little system, and generates basically no heat. I use it as my primary domain controller.

[Slartibartfast]

Killdisk looks like a good one. It's a win 98 box so the mentioned suggestion, while cool, isn't an option. I'll probably dban it and then killdisk it. The suggestions involving explosions are also good, but I was hoping to sell the drive...maybe it will be a "unique fixer-upper" :D