Did you know that when you delete a file from your hard drive, it doesn't really go away? Did you know that even formatting a hard drive won't do the trick? It's very true.
When files are erased (and I use that term loosely) from a hard drive, they're not really gone, only the location information for the file is removed. In other words, the file(s) are invisible to the operating system (like Windows or Linux) but not impossible to recover.
So what do you do if you're selling or giving away your hard drive? Do more than just format it, that's for sure. What you need to do is completely erase the data in a way that makes it impossible (with current and probably any technology) to recover.
You can do that with special software called data destruction software. I keep a list of free ones here: Free Data Destruction Software. Basically you boot to a disc you burn and then follow the directions given by the software.
Here's a general walk-through of the process: How To Wipe a Hard Drive.
Did you properly wipe the last hard drive you passed on or disposed of?
I have wiped OUT …. and I mean …. O U T … many a hard drive by a simple expedient: Use DBAN. Get what you need by downloading …. http://www.dban.org/
Get the version that comes (or YOU generate) on a trusty old floppy. When you’re ready, go the the BIOS and opt for a “floppy disk start.” The rest is duck soup. Fire up the disk, and the rest is automatic. Just follow the ONE instruction it will give you. Come back in an hour or two (or more) and you will have a 100% blank disk. At this point, all you can DO to get back into business is run FDISK, then FORMAT, and you’ll have a hard-drive with only the 100 or so start-up bytes that let you accept the files you wish to add. It’s a real blessing !
@luckieg: DBAN is definitely my favorite data destruction program. It’s very easy to use and certainly does the job.
DBAN excellent software, I agree. Set back is it fails when confronted with bad sectors. Or it will continue wiping but with an errors.
So whats left on your drive is, information attainable with software that will work through those errors such as ddrescue.
I suggest use dcfldd for just the above reason.
Another reason is I like leaving textual pattern for the person obtaining the image of the drive. Instead of writing 1′s and 0′s you can specify what you want it to write over the drive with. So with a hex dump the investigator will get your message over and over again, something like lol.
Tim said in the heading “Getting Rid of an Old Hard Drive” My suggestion if selling a hdd with your personal data, is encrypting the drive first, then wipe it with whatever you want. If data is recovered it’s just gibberish.
If you have company secrets on a drive I suggest destroying the drive.
This all falls back to one thing, “Whats YOUR data worth”
@Rick M: Thanks for the insights. Much appreciated!
Don’t do it…. just don’t do it! Don’t give or sell a computer with the hard drive in it. By all means go through wipe routine of your choice if it makes you feel better. Then take the hard drive out and either wreck it with a hammer or insert it into either a slot in caddy or a external hard drive case and use it for storage. All my 10 hard drives are in ‘slot in’ caddies. Several are just files. I have others set up with operating systems, XP Home, XP PRO. Vista, WIN 7 and UBUNTU, even a WIN 98! If I get a problem I shut down, swop operating systems and back online in minutes. You don’t have to open the case. Then I can sort the dodgy one when I get chance.
When disposing of a hard drive, remove the platters (pieces) and burn them. Platter pieces CAN be reconstructed and read.
Good idea Rick!
Thermite works well too! : )
So my question is this – If I erase the hard drive, will the original programs that came on the computer still be there? I am selling some old laptops and would like to erase everything, but I don’t want to wreck the computer for the buyer.
@Sandy: No, those programs will not still be there. Erasing a hard drive renders the computer unusable until an operating system (and then whatever additional software you want to use) is installed.
I have replace my hard drive. I have been looking for a way to erase it so i can turn it in for recycling. all of the instructions i see are for a hard drive still installed in the computer. Is there a way for me to clean it now that it is removed from my pc?
Thank you
donna
@donna: There are industrial-class machines for that purpose but no easy way for folks like you and me to do it. The need just isn’t there that often. My suggestion: put it back into another desktop and follow the instructions as given. That, or you could put it in an external hard drive enclosure and do the same. The second method would make it easier since you don’t need to have a traditional desktop machine, nor do you have to open anything up, but you will have to buy an enclosure if you don’t already have one.