How to Completely Erase Your Hard Drives

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While this article on erasing old hard drives is pretty informative, our patent pending .50 cal method of destroying data is second to none. The best part about our method is that you can do 18 drives at a time and it takes only a split second to complete. :D

If you use Shift-Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin, the space occupied by the file is marked as available for other files. However, the file could be recovered days or even weeks later with third-party data recovery software. As long as the operating system does not reuse the space occupied by a file with another file, the "deleted" file can be recovered.
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"If you use Shift-Delete to bypass the Recycle Bin, the space occupied by the file is marked as available for other files. However, the file could be recovered days or even weeks later with third-party data recovery software. As long as the operating system does not reuse the space occupied by a file with another file, the "deleted" file can be recovered."

This is an odd way to phrase this, since it seems to be implying that there is something special about using shift-delete to bypass the recycle bin. Whereas actually, this is no different than simply deleting normally and then emptying the recycle bin regularly, which I assume is what most everyone does.
 
Or you could use a utility like bcwipe that does transparent wiping when a file is deleted. Or you could use an encrypted volume so you don't need to wipe the drive in the first place.
 
Boot & Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
 
Where I work, I have to either use the DoD 3-pass or take them apart and use metal snips to put a cut on the platter. 3-pass takes way way too long, so ripping them apart and cutting it is what I do.
 
only sure fire way to delete your data is physically destroying it, the programs can take hours if not days to scrub the drive, a 50 cal bullet takes a second, or you can go really physical and just smash them with a hammer.
 
Why not just get a neodymium magnet? Here is one on ebay that can hold 1175 pounds for 500 dollars. They even say remove all metal objects within a 5 foot radius before unpacking. This would be the best choice if the police were pounding on your door with a warrant. I was thinking you could probably make some kind of metal brace to hold two of the magnets at the height of a hard drive with non magnetic surface for the hard drive to slide through easily. The outside could remain shielded so you don't create small black hole made of metal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Neodymium-Mag...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53d7246351
 
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I can't believe they ignored the dd command. set it in a loop and your done. :D no reason to pay anyone anything
 
i'veheard this doesnt work for fbi since they can put the shit back together, or at least find pieces of the puzzle and read them.

but.. why not:
format it 5x
soak it in water
heat it up and boil it
beat it with a hammer
then shoot it
 
I use DBAN...seems like a good catchall using DOD passes and a couple other systems.
 
I dunno. I think my favorite form of completely secure destruction would have to be thermite. Turn that puppy into puddle of misshapen metal. No one and nothing can reassemble the data after that.
 
wtiger said:
I dunno. I think my favorite form of completely secure destruction would have to be thermite. Turn that puppy into puddle of misshapen metal. No one and nothing can reassemble the data after that.
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This. :cool:
 
I dunno, I've always been partial to the thermite solution, plus its just so farking cool to watch!
 
Crucible1001 said:
Why not just get a neodymium magnet? Here is one on ebay that can hold 1175 pounds for 500 dollars. They even say remove all metal objects within a 5 foot radius before unpacking.
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So, you order that...

And the place you have it shipped to has a metal door... hrm.

I feel sorry for the guy who ships a hard drive full of time-critical project files and gets placed on the truck next to one of these things. ;)
 
Can deleted data be recovered from a ssd drive that has trim enabled?
 
A whole article on disk wiping and ATA Secure Erase (NIST 800-88) only gets a small mention? That is precisely the way hard drives should be being wiped. DoD 5220.22-M is an outdated specification.

TLDR version.
Block wipes = old and busted; ATA wipe command = new hotness.
 
I saw a webpage somewhere where there was an open challange for ANYONE to recover data that used a very basic wipe method. Something like several thousand dollars if anyone can do it.

I am probably wrong, but the drive wasn't even wiped with random algorithms, just simple write all zero's.

Maybe someone knows the webpage.
 
Though I should qualify that with DoD 3 pass and similar block wipes are still useful for wiping data in situ (like a free space wipe, or deleting a specific file), but if you are nuking from orbit you might as well use ATA Secure Erase.
 
I have yet to actually get HDDerase to ever work on SATA. Of my 6 PC's HDDerase will only succesfully show 1 as having a valid controller. And then it says my SSD does not support ATA secure erase.

I just use DBAN. It always works. I just use one pass zero (to refresh SSD's)
 
Or, instead of creating boot CDs with a pile of tools on them to zero fill you could do "diskpart clean all" and be done with it. DOD paranoia notwithstanding.
 
Deleting files is like quick format. Its not really fully formatted. Just tells the hard drive that space is free to change but nothing is really erased.
 
We use to take a drill and put a few holes through the drive. My coworker and I now shoot them. We have been doing this a few years. Nice little targets.
 
westrock2000 said:
I have yet to actually get HDDerase to ever work on SATA. Of my 6 PC's HDDerase will only succesfully show 1 as having a valid controller. And then it says my SSD does not support ATA secure erase.

I just use DBAN. It always works. I just use one pass zero (to refresh SSD's)
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PartedMagic on Ultimate Boot CD also has a wipe tool that will activate ATA Secure Erase.
 
I use Shift+Del to delete files so that I don't have to deal with emptying the recycle bin. o_O
 
edifyingkarma said:
I use a little eraser app. 35 pass Gutmann wipe seems to do the trick
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Guttmans method is also completely unnecessary. A fact to which he admits himself (See the epilogue).

Guttman's wipe is just another block wipe same as DoD 5220.22-M. If your going to use a block wipe the most a DoD 3 pass is probably the best you can do, unless your going to use the ATA Secure Erase (or ATA Enhanced Secure Erase if your drive supports it).
 
Gott said:
Dod 7 pass for me.
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Pretty much unnecessary. They still haven't found anyone willing to take the prize to prove they can recover anything from a hard drive that was wiped with a single pass zero out.
 
I like the .50 cal method for mass disposal but when I want to get rid of a drive I use the 'pair of pliers and a blowtorch. Get medival on it's ass' method.
 
Find an old TV repairman that has a degaussing wand they don't use anymore. Works great. Then shoot the drive.
 
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