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afterdawn.com > forums > pc hardware > other pc hardware > advice on secure hard disc wipe
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Advice on secure Hard disc wipe
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boytool
Junior Member
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 02:44 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Is it possible to securely wipe a HD prior to selling it on?
I know there are lots of commercial tools, but do they really work? Is there a foolproof method?
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Phantom69
Senior Member

3 product reviews
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 03:08 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
oooooo, i havnt been aksed about a boot and nuke ina loooong time :D

i personally do not recommend selling a used hard disk, the best thing to do with em is to burn em (fire burn)

however, i do believe there are freeware tools that claim to be able to erase your drive completely and irrecoverably, so you can only try:


http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/securedelete.shtml

^^ just a resource with a list of programs

http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_9_96_19893.html

http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_9_96_2778.html

http://www.freewarefiles.com/program_9_102_10039.html

^^ take your pick
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"Its so hard to try to be different..."-Apocalypse Hoboken
tycobb
Senior Member
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 03:35 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Also get ccleaner(free) and go to the options button then the settings tab and click secure deletion(nsa 7 passes).Though this won't work alone in conjunction with those that phantom69 offered it will help better delete the history and tracks left behind(which is what your worried about right?).
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pc games with gamepad support by tycobb.
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/360823
Auslander
AfterDawn Addict
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 08:17 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
i would just use a live linux cd and load that up on one of your boots...it would do a few various formats and types of dummy files that windows would never be able to comprehend.
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ddp
Moderator
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 14:43 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
fdisk & format the hd a few times will ususally prevent average person from retrieving info. other than that trash the hd with a hammer.
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boytool
Junior Member
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 23:02 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Thanks for the info: am rummaging through the toolbox now for the hammer and blowtorch.
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The_Fiend
Suspended permanently
_ 		19. September 2006 @ 23:14 _ Link to this message    Send private message to this user   
Use a strong (commercial type) magnet to whipe it clean, Neodymium magnets work the best for this use.
Give the drive a number of passes, then do a low level format, run the magnet over the disc again, and do a second lowlevel format.
After that, pretty much anything on the disc will be gone, with only traces of data left that would be recoverable, but nothing worth mentioning.
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irc://arcor.de.eu.dal.net/wasted_hate

Wanna tell me off, go ahead.
I dare ya !

This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19. September 2006 @ 23:15
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