Cleaing old / past data off of IDE Drives

  • Thread starter Thread starter Moif Murphy
  • Start date Start date
M

Moif Murphy

Hi,

I have a couple of IDE Drives spare and I'd like to clean them up as
best as I can so they're completely blank (no left over data after
formatting etc). Can anyone suggest a freeware WIN32 or Linux equivalent
that can do the job?

Thanks!
 
Moif Murphy said:
I have a couple of IDE Drives spare and I'd like to clean them up as best
as I can so they're completely blank (no left over data after formatting
etc). Can anyone suggest a freeware WIN32 or Linux equivalent that can do
the job?
Click to expand...

In XP:

file-run cipher /w:d

will wipe the d: drive of all deleted data
 
Moif said:
Hi,

I have a couple of IDE Drives spare and I'd like to clean them up as
best as I can so they're completely blank (no left over data after
formatting etc). Can anyone suggest a freeware WIN32 or Linux equivalent
that can do the job?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

For Win, I've used Eraser for years -- free and easy, and effective.

Also, most if not all HD vendors have utilities that will write zeroes
to some or all of the HD; make sure you get the utility that writes to
the whole HD, not just the first few hundred sectors. FWIW, writing
zeroes is not as safe as one of Eraser's multi-pass procedures, but IMHO
it is good enough to prevent ordinary mortals from reading your data.
 
Bob said:
For Win, I've used Eraser for years -- free and easy, and effective.

Also, most if not all HD vendors have utilities that will write zeroes
to some or all of the HD; make sure you get the utility that writes to
the whole HD, not just the first few hundred sectors. FWIW, writing
zeroes is not as safe as one of Eraser's multi-pass procedures, but IMHO
it is good enough to prevent ordinary mortals from reading your data.
Click to expand...

Ok great, I'll check Eraser out as well.

Thanks, Bob.
 
Previously Moif Murphy said:
Hi,
Click to expand...
I have a couple of IDE Drives spare and I'd like to clean them up as
best as I can so they're completely blank (no left over data after
formatting etc). Can anyone suggest a freeware WIN32 or Linux equivalent
that can do the job?
Click to expand...
Thanks!
Click to expand...

For Linux: dd_rescue /dev/zero /dev/<target>
Will overwrite every sector with zeros and give a progress indicator.
dd_Rescue is available, e.g., on the Knoppix CD Linux.

Arno
 
Hi,

I have a couple of IDE Drives spare and I'd like to clean them up as
best as I can so they're completely blank (no left over data after
formatting etc). Can anyone suggest a freeware WIN32 or Linux equivalent
that can do the job?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I like DBAN. It's open source and free.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

You only need to do one over-write, unless you're working to someone's
spec. If you're paranoid or can't be bothered arguing with people or
are working to someone's spec you can do more. Dban allows you to do
all sorts of different wipes.
 
bealoid said:
I like DBAN. It's open source and free.
http://dban.sourceforge.net/

You only need to do one over-write, unless you're working to someone's
spec. If you're paranoid or can't be bothered arguing with people or
are working to someone's spec you can do more. Dban allows you to do
all sorts of different wipes.
Click to expand...

I downloaded burnt off the ISO of DBAN and it's done the job wonderfully.

Thanks
 
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