# Wiping A Hard Drive So Data Is Not Recoverable



## Southy (Dec 5, 2006)

I have a hard drive which I want to sell and so I want to format it clean so that the buyer has a fresh drive and also so that my data is not recoverable. I know just doing a quick windows format will not do the trick, is there a way I can format it so that the previous data is no longer recoverable?


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## Jet (Dec 5, 2006)

If you do a full reformat, it will erase all data. 

Quick reformat: makes all sectors "available" 
Full reformat: Writes "0" to each space, so it is fully formatted. (or it might be "1", I'm not totally sure, but I am sure that a full reformat will do the trick.


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## SirKenin (Dec 5, 2006)

A full reformat doesn't do it.  I can recover formatted HDDs.  You have to use a shredder of some kind.  They are available on the web, but I'm not aware of any free ones.


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## Jet (Dec 5, 2006)

SirKenin said:


> A full reformat doesn't do it.  I can recover formatted HDDs.  You have to use a shredder of some kind.  They are available on the web, but I'm not aware of any free ones.



Hmm.. a paper shredder with a hard drive 

So you can recover fully reformatted hard drives? Is it hard?


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## Southy (Dec 5, 2006)

Yeah I've heard the same, full formats wont do the trick. I'm thinking I would need to get a program to write multiple layers overtop of the data so that it is no longer recoverable, I'm just not sure how to do it, thats all...


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## SirKenin (Dec 5, 2006)

Jet said:


> Hmm.. a paper shredder with a hard drive
> 
> So you can recover fully reformatted hard drives? Is it hard?



No, I have a program here called Stellar Phoenix that recovers data off of formats three layers old.


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## pdc76 (Dec 5, 2006)

there's a program made by webroot, it's called window washer. pretty much makes it unrecoverable. it can do:

random (1 pass)
DOD 5220.22-M (3 passes)
NSA standards (7 passes)
Gutmann (35 passes)
or a user defined number up to 100 passes.


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## Emperor_nero (Dec 5, 2006)

wow are you guys just parinoid or are the cops after you?


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## pdc76 (Dec 5, 2006)

uh, who wants to know?  
















hahaha


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## Jesse1984 (Dec 5, 2006)

I use ultimate boot cd. There are lots of utilitites to write 0's to the entire drive and make it unrecoverable. Its advisable to use the correct application for your brand of drive. I believe there is maxtor, HP, Western digital and some others.  Just boot from ultimate boot cd and follow the prompts. Careful not to delete your main drive tho! http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/


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