Looking for free software to erase old HD

E

Executioner

Gawd
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
756
I'm looking for a free utility that can run on windows 7, where I want to erase a HD connected via USB. I know about DBAN, but was looking for something easy to use via Windows desktop.
 
Most Linux distros come with a command called "shred". Just shred the entire volume (ex: /dev/sdb). You can set options to do several passes etc. It basically writes random data to it. you can then follow by zeros.

You can run it off a Raspbery Pi or something else that you can just set aside and forget (it will take days to run).

I like to do like 20 passes and just set and forget. I may not actually let all 20 run, but if I don't need any of the equipment I just let it do it's thing.

Technically you only need to do 1 pass of zeros, but in theory, a big agency like the NSA could potentially read the data by looking at the strength of the magnetic fields. A 0 written on top of a 1 will have a bit more charge than a 0 written on top of a 0, for example. At least in theory.
 
I've used Eraser a few times, and it seems to work. Have it installed currently, with an eSATA dock it's sometimes easier than DBAN.
 
If you want to use a linux live CD, most distros come with a command called shred. Run like 10 passes or whatever the default is and follow with a write of zeros and you should be good to go. This takes days, so I typically like doing these operations on a separate system that is out of sight and out of mind and that is UPS protected and just let'r rip.

Depends how sensitive the data is, a single write of zeros might be fine if there's no possibility of anything on there that could be used against you by the government. Typical users or even most data recovery places wont have the equipment to recover a write of zeros.
 
I actually found another way: format x: /fs:NTFS /p:2

The /p:2 swtich: This format command option writes zeros to every sector of the drive: once. If you specify a count, a different random number will be written to the entire drive that many times after the zero writing is complete.
 
Executioner said:
I actually found another way: format x: /fs:NTFS /p:2

The /p:2 swtich: This format command option writes zeros to every sector of the drive: once. If you specify a count, a different random number will be written to the entire drive that many times after the zero writing is complete.
Click to expand...

realistically the amount of money someone would spend recovering a drive written with zeros once then random numbers once is not going to be worth whatever data's on there unless you got the nuclear launch codes on there
 
I'm actually using the CCleaner tool to see how it works. It's going to take 8 hrs for a 500 gb drive using USB 2.
 
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=1M

Where /dev/sda is the HD to wipe.
 
iroc409 said:
I forgot about this. It also works pretty well and is built in.
Click to expand...

What's the OP's endgame for the disk? Retirement or repurposing?

But diskpart /clean all just wipes all partition info. The data is still on there. Granted that this will be enough to stop 99% of the population that MAY want to see if there's anything on it.
 
In the 1990s, HDD sectors used to be theoretically large enough to make it possible to see traces of old data after a single pass of writing zeroes to every sector. HDD density became high enough in the 2000s that this is no longer possible.

You will find most mentions of data recovery firms recovering "overwritten files" to be about recovering data from files that have had only their names overwritten.

If you wonder why some concerned organizations (such as military or governmental departments) still require drive destruction rather than merely erasing for data security, it is far easier and simpler to verify that a sledgehammer has correctly destroyed the HDD's platters than it is to verify that a tech grunt or application has correctly and fully executed a drive wipe.
 
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