Anyone know the command to wipe a hard drive?

[Dave B]

Getting rid of an old computer, and want to wipe the hard drive. Anyone know what the command might be??? Just gonna turn this in to the salvage guy, but want to be safe..... am I right in thinking this way?

Thanks

D

 

[The patriot]

I'm far from a computer guru, but I'm thinking "system edit".

 

[willyslover]

Dave. . please donate to a school for the handicap... they will update a few pieces and put it to good use. . I've given several units from work and you would not believe how much they are a blessing to the teachers who deal with these kids. .
and in your case could be a writeoff to taxes .

 

[JConley]

The command is fdisk and it is run from a command prompt (C:\) This will remove the drive partition, but in order to guarantee that your data is non recoverable, you would have to run a utility that over writes the drive as many as 7 times. Once data is written to a hard drive, consider it there forever until you destroy the drive with a blow torch.

------------------
98 QC 2500 2WD 12 Valve Automatic, 3. 54 Mag-Hytec transmission pan. No silencer ring. Wrap around black Grill Guard (BIG solid steel one. AFC controller adjusted, Mopar mud flaps, Camper package, 2001 Tow mirrors, Cat ran away, No Muff
My Mustang
My Ram
Go Aggies!!!

 

[Ancient Mariner]

The command to wipe a hard drive follows:

Boot to the DOS prompt. Then type "Format C:" and press "Enter". This will re-format the hard drive and all data on it will be lost.

------------------
99. 5 QC, 4X4, Auto, 3. 54, Forest Green, Rhinoliner, Running Boards, Trailer Tow Pkg with mirrors, VA Box, Aluminum Tool Box

 

[Sandmann]

How about format c:

Ron

------------------
2001 2500 SLT+ 4X4 Auto Cummins, 3. 54,Quad cab,Short Bed,Camel Leather, White Exterior, Sliding rear window, Camper Special Group, Towing Group,A. R. E cap with rear door, New 30' Cedar creek 5th on its way.

 

[Koa Man]

You can format a hard disk by right clicking the icon representing the drive in either a folder or Explorer window and chossing Format from the context menu. Clicking Format will not immediately begin the formatting process. You will be able to determine format parameters as well as the oportunity to back out. Formatting the hard drive should be ale to wipe out the data so most people cannot retrieve it, although some place like the FBI lab will. Only way to be absolutely sure is to rewrite junk over it and format it again. Most people don't have information on their computers that are so sensitive.

This info pertains to a PC. If you have a Mac then I don't know.

 

[QRTRHRS]

How about holding a magnet next to the drive? Anyone ever try this?

 

[Rambling]

Dave B,

I don't know that the c: drive can be formated from Windows Explorer like the other drives.

Either follow Ancient Mariners suggestion or use FDISK as Koa Man suggests. As Koa Man says, either way will keep the average bloke from seeing what has been on the drive.

 

[Komik]

Ever heard of the term "unformat". For most hackers its a common word.

Fdisk first, delete the partitions. Then refdisk with a different partition paramters, then run format. Then write to the drive, then redo the fdisk once more with different paramters again. Format with a old version of dos. Now you have a clean drive.

Butch

------------------
2000 QC 4X4 24V 3500 4:10 All Options Auto Aux fuel/tool box combo Bright Box Geno's Garage Fender Trim Kit Garmin GPS III+ Kenwood 2 Meter Y2K+1 Tow Mirrors 1999 Excel Fifth Wheel, 1999 Concord LXI. Wife says I need to add "One Dodge Diesel Dog" N9JPZ KB9RZQ 2001 PT Cruiser

 

[Chad Sheets]

Got a new supervisor at work who just junked a lap top because it was junk he said. Well, the local roofer saw it in the trash and asked if he could have it. Wanted to use the screen to fix one of his kids lap tops, who happens to work with us also.

Long story short, roofer gets it running again and pulls up the hard drive and finds 38 pictures of this goof ball naked as a J bird! I guess he had been posting them on some newsgroup. The real kicker is naked boy tries to play like hes Mr religous at work. Now we all know about it and say " #ad
cheese #ad
" every time we see him.

------------------
Always ready to help!
2000 2500 Red Sport quad cab, 4x4, K&N, DDI's, straight piped, boost, pyro and fuel pressure gages, Hot Power Edge, EZ box, mean looking set of 33. 5" tires, Snap On diamond tool box, Marine Corps window sticker, Semper Fi!

1972 340 Cuda'. Original tripple Black, 340 car w/air. Good clean car, super stock springs, Weld Prostars, shaker hood, strong 340 with a 727/4000 stahl, 4. 56... . Bombs away!
NRA Life Member
My Diesel Page

 

[Eventer]

QRTRHRS,

Yes you can use a magnet, I believe it is called degaussing. However, it would take a fairly strong magnet to wipe every bit on the disk.

This is what the military and military contractors do just before they physically destroy a disk that contains classified information.

It would be easier to use a disk utility that meets DES standards (52. 2 I believe) that write over every bit on a disk with the same character (an "X" for example) multiple times.

------------------
Lyndon Hendry
Chief Equine Officer (CEO) and
President for Life
Head Over Heels Farm

2001 2500 QC LB ETH/DEE 3. 55RE Patriot Blue
Pop-Up Hitch, Stock engine except for MIA blow-by-bottle

"An oil burner for the hay burners. "

[This message has been edited by Eventer (edited 02-04-2001). ]

 

[446]

I believe you boot to DOS with a system disk, run fdisk, delete all partitions, create a new drive c then
A:\format c:/s/u which stands for format unconditionally and copy system files so you can boot to the hard drive after the format

[This message has been edited by 446 (edited 02-04-2001). ]

 

[OO]

If you know what brand hard drive it is you can go to their website and download a disc utility that allows you to zero out the hard drive. This program writes zeros from one end of the drive to the other. Just like they are brand new. Only way to get rid of some viruses. Usually it fits on a floppy disc and you just boot from it when starting your computer. Formating does not clear out the boot sector of the hard drive.

 

[JSchooley]

I've been wondering about sanitizing a hard drive too. How about deleting the sensitive files and then running Defrag? That seems to write to every block. Or does it?

Any inputs on this?

John

 

[Dave B]

Thanks guys... ... . its an old 386... don't know that anyone would really want it even if donated, but I'll ask the local school.

Tomorrow nite after work I'll try the format commands n see what happens. Personally i think it'd make a great shotgun target but I'm still stuck with getting rid of the carcass.

Gnite n thanks again

D

 

[mikel]

I've tried using a magnet to destroy the data on a hard drive before, and I didn't have any luck. It must take a stronger magnet than I could find. I used an electromagnet off some trailer brakes.

The best non-fatal thing that I know of is to find out who made the drive and then go on the internet to their website and get the utility to "low-level format" the drive. It's just going to write 0's to every location on the drive. Nothing particularly fancy, but quite effective.

A standard format may leave data behind that can be recovered, I don't know. But if you have to be reasonably sure that the data can't be recovered do the 'low-level format'.

Hope this helps,
Mike

------------------
'99 QC 2500 SLT Driftwood 2wd SB 24v Auto 3. 55 LSD
ISSPRO pyrometer, Walker 21468, 20,000 miles 12-19-00

-- email address removed --
Howdy Agg's!

 

[Jumbo Jet]

I used several rounds from a 30-06 once.

Then I displayed the drive in my office as an example of a "shot" disk drive!

 

[Cooker]

Butch Kraus had one of the best responses IMO. Don't forget this has to be done from a DOS prompt.

Yes there are utilities to help you do this. Not needed IMO.

Low level format would be good too. I wipes away the partitions so then FDISK would be unnecessary.

 

[RKohn]

Whatcha trying to hide Dave?

Format, Fdisk, Low level Format, Blow Torch or Bench Grinder... in order of easiest to hardest recovery.

If somebody wants it bad enough, even that won't stop'em. Nothing short of reducing the platters to dust or a glob of melted metal is totally unrecoverable.

For government CD's, we run'em through a heavy duty crosscut shredder. Haven't found a shredder tough enough to do hard drive platters yet.

Realistically, formatting and reloading DOS or Windows back on it should be fine. Most people aren't going to take the time to look at it before they reload it again anyway.

------------------
Y2K Red Stealth Sport 2500 4X4 QC SLT+, 5-spd, 3. 54 anti-spin, 265-75-16 LTX’s (There ain’t no such thing as options, cause ya gotta have it all, including: DC’s dead cow/vinyl interior and don’t stop anti-lock brakes. ) Stock, but not for long. Oops, too late. What silencer ring? (More fun than my 98 SST)