How to cleanse a leased win2k for return?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Viba Fima
  • Start date Start date
V

Viba Fima

Hi all,
I have many books on how to set up win2Ks but none on how to cleanse it for
return to the leasing company. I have a few questions:

1. I have reformatted all non-C: drives/partitions and mark them as free to
use. Will this action guarantee that the data on these partitions cannot be
recovered through forensic tools?

2. I try to format the C: drive but the OS does not allow me to do it. I try
using the setup program during power up (F12 key) without success either: I
have the C: drive on RAID and the setup program says something like cannot
reformat of an online drive. Should I try to format the C: drive and
re-install win2K in a pristine condition like when I received the machine?
If so, how can I format the C: drive?

2. If I cannot format the C: drive, I need to clean up all domain
information. This win2K is a server in a domain (it is not a domain
controller). I put it back as a member of a dummy workgroup and reboot, but
some information about the domain still remains, such as I can still see the
other domain's computers under the Networking Neighborhood. How can I delete
all these information?

3. If I cannot format the C: drive, how can I be sure that passwords from
domain users are really gone from this win2K?

Thanks,
Krup Nugent
 
To wipe out C, I'd just reinstall 2000 from the disk. Pop in the CD and boot
from it. When prompted to chose a location for 2000, follow the directions
and delete all the partitions (press d, then l), and then recreate any
partitions you want, and format one with ntfs (quick). Put 2000 on the NTFS
partition.

--
--
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP
(e-mail address removed)12.il.us

Http://www.briandesmond.com
 
I disagree. Brian's approach may "superficially wipe out" C, but it will
not with certainty wipe all information from C to avoid data recovery by
forensic software. Before I dispose of any hard drives on which I have
placed sensitive information, I run multiple times an old version of Norton
Utilities that has the WIPEDISK utility (from a DOS boot disk). I don't
recall the exact details because I have not run this utility in some time,
but the complete drive is written with zeros and ones or some other selected
pattern that will overwrite all existing data. There are probably other
similar utilities available for a nominal cost or as freeware that will
perform the equivalent task. Speak with your leasing company ahead of time
and they may tell you they would rather have the drive come back to them
clean anyway, which will save you the time and labor of installing an
operating system. The leasing company should understand your need to
protect proprietary or company sensitive information. I'm sure their
technicians see some very interesting information on machines returned
off-lease by unthinking or naive customers.
 
Back
Top