Dec 16, 2006 10:57 am There are loads of programs that can do a zero fill of deleted sectors and crap like that. Ultimately, I think the only true way is by simple sawing up the hard drive into little pieces...
Hard Disk wiping
Posted on Dec 16, 2006 10:54 am
crux
Typo Szar
Member Since: Jul 04, 2002
I read that their are programs such as Norton system tools that can wipe your harddisk clean in a way that the deleted data can never be recovered, how true is this? is there an even better program taht assures no one can ever recover delicate files from your computer? im just being weary because my computer is slowly dying and i need to get it fixed constantly, but i use it for everything and it has alot of details about my life and here in Thailand hacking and data theft is rampant.
[ Back to Top ]
Dec 16, 2006 10:57 am There are loads of programs that can do a zero fill of deleted sectors and crap like that. Ultimately, I think the only true way is by simple sawing up the hard drive into little pieces...
Dec 16, 2006 12:33 pm yeah, but im formatting mostly for one i put the thing into the shop. In thailand its a big problem nowadays whenever people get their computers serviced by small shops that the service guys go through all your personal files and many times release very intimate details, photos, videos etc onto the net. scary.
Dec 16, 2006 01:03 pm DBAN is what I use.
dban.sourceforge.net/
I hope to eventually get a butane torch :)
Paper-wise I follow the DOD "shred, singe, soak, stirr" method
Dec 17, 2006 09:58 am So these programs r quite reliable? as in most computer wizzes even couldnt recover the data?
Dec 17, 2006 10:33 am a simple low level format will stop 99% of people.
Dec 17, 2006 08:52 pm Cool...does that Google ad at the bottom just read the text on the page and instantly know what ad to put there?
Dec 17, 2006 10:16 pm Yep, I think its pretty dang cool that it does that. Very interesting when you think about it. I guess its simple code but to me it is pretty cool.
Dec 18, 2006 06:14 am Yep, context sensitive, Google so rocks in that department.
Dec 18, 2006 07:30 pm I try watching them once in awhile to see if they change as a thread evolves. but ya, its a very cool thing to have.
Dec 19, 2006 02:56 pm I know a little about this, going from the other end i.e. loosing a LOTTTT of audio (a live gig I recorded for a friend couploe of years ago!!).
I discovered you can format it, format it and format all ye like...it won't really format it in the truest sense of the word. It's a bit like the way you used to use xxx over letters to cross out words/numbers etc in the old days...now, that worked but you had to do a lorrrra xxx's before it was truely clean.
I read an article that the US Military (before destroying a disc) have a method that takes every single sector and writes/rewrites an algorithim that is essentially a pile of xxx's in digital format approximately 24 times (I think IIRC) before they consider it truely unreadable.
Its all about taking random crap, writing it on every single sector, of the entire disk, then re-doing it 24 times....nuts huh!
Which proves, for data recovery, its almost ALWAYS recoverable (and thus seeable) BUT, the more times its written/rewritten/cleaned etc, the harder it becomes but utilamtely, still possible.
Reality is, you'd have to have some real good gear to get the stuff back after a full (i.e. the whole storage capacity of the disc) has gone thru this many times.
In any case, the safest method, is to as db says, physically destroy the sucka i.e. melt it. BUT, I have read there are some poor attempts at physical destruction where (not yer average info thief I grant ye, we're talking military here) have put it back together to see the data....
Just some ifno I gathered when trying to get back data ;-) !! Good for me it was ;-) !
All the best
Coco
Dec 19, 2006 09:32 pm DBAN claims to meet the DoD standard... the "DOD wipe" takes _hours_ ...
The "real" solution is to melt because magentic material loses it's magentic properties when liquified. Otherwise a patient person could reassemble the surface film and get "something" ... back in the 80's-90's there was an urban legend of people scotch taping floppies back together after being shredded.
|
Related Forum Topics: |
If you would like to participate in the forum discussions, feel free to register for your free membership.