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Clearing a hard drive, what sofware to use?
Hey all! so I'm trying to completely wipe my hard drive clean, down to the secotors. I'm using a freeware tool called No File Recovery! However, it's taking FOREVER. I've never done this before so I don't know if this is normal. My hard drive is only 500 GB (465 really), so I was wondering...
Is there any other free software that you know about that works well?
Update!!!
The reason I did this was because Adobe CS3 was crashing at launch and I think it had to do with some files lingering in the hard drive. So after I did this, everything installed correctly and is working properly. I use adobe software more than anything and this is my main PC so I had to get this going on this PC. I'm not trying to hide anything from the FBI XD.
Thanks for your help everyone
Is there any other free software that you know about that works well?
Update!!!
Okay, I got it done. After trying some free limited software, I finally found Eraser. It's completely free, and has pretty much any method you could ever want to overwrite your drive. I considered DBAN but I had already started with this tool which worked great, though it took 12 hours to complete, ugh.
The reason I did this was because Adobe CS3 was crashing at launch and I think it had to do with some files lingering in the hard drive. So after I did this, everything installed correctly and is working properly. I use adobe software more than anything and this is my main PC so I had to get this going on this PC. I'm not trying to hide anything from the FBI XD.
Thanks for your help everyone
Tags: cleanup, drive, hard, no, recovery, sectors, wipe
Views: 19
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff on -
Hard drive manufactures have a tool you can boot to, well I know western digital does. Otherwise there is DBAN, you can select the method you like and the time you want to spend.
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Permalink Reply by Jorge on -
Thanks guys, the NO File Recovery tool worked fine.
nope, no recovery disk, I didn't buy the Hard Drive separately.
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Permalink Reply by James Young on -
Dban is the software I use to wipe all hard drives. I would use a minimum of 3 overwrites (DoD standard).
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Permalink Reply by Michael on -
as suggested make sure you do a DOD (goverment approved to be clean) pass anything less has been recoverable...heck destroy the thing if it is important items to make sure they are gone...if you are going to use the disk yourself again you do not really need to worry about what was on the disk previously....format the disk and load an os on it give it away an no one is ever going to get anything from it....only if someone wanted to spend ALOT of time trying would they be able to get anything off of it....only way I would worry is if for some reason I sold the drive...not worth it IMO so either destroy it or just keep using it as it is and the stuff will be overwritten.
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Permalink Reply by Jawatech on -
I know of a lab in Austin, Tx that can pull all historical data off any hard drive no matter what you done to it. That includes a trace of every file you have ever had. The only way to Truly get rid of your harddrives history is thermite... Or bury it somewhere.
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Permalink Reply by ChuckysChild on -
"I know of a lab in Austin, Tx that can pull all historical data off any hard drive no matter what you done to it."
I don't think so. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYZF_Cc_N-k&feature=player_embed...
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Permalink Reply by ngeek on -
I don't this is true. Perhaps you could let us know the name of the lab. Repeated challenges offering cash rewards to people who could recover data from a disk overwritten a single time have gone unclaimed. The DOD standards are probably overkill. Perhaps this ability to recover data is a rumor started by drive manufacturers to encourage people to destroy drives instead of selling them.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Felton on -
I use CCLeaner which is freeware to periodically wipe my freespace, it has several options for secure deletion 3,7 or 35 passes and you can wipe you whole drive. Great utility!!
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Permalink Reply by LADYTECH on -
I use this and for the price it's excellent Drive Scrubber by Iolo. Not free but C'mon it's mighty cheap!! $10 for 3PC's. They have some pretty cool software. They also have one called search and recover. Cheap too.
It worked for me when I deleted some pictures I thought of getting rid of on my sd card. I used this and it retrieved all my pics. LORD, Scary!!!! but it works!!!!!
http://www.buy.com/prod/drivescrubber-up-to-3-pcs/q/loc/105/2066565...
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