best hard drive format?

I'm looking to wipe a hard drive and pretty much get it back closest to factory default as possible, whats the best way about going about this?

 

dban is good
http://www.dban.org/

 

whats the best method to run though, just running 1 pass of zeros dont totally wipe it does it?

 

it has to be 3 passes,i think there is also a fre version of killdisk.
also you have copywipe from terabyte.
then format and reinstall OS

 

the free kill disk only lets you do 1 pass, so would i be better off getting dban and running the 3 passes or just using kill disk and running 1 pass?

 

gotta be 3 passes,in this case dban or copywipe
remember to backup your important files first.
i think there is also heidi eraseweb..

 

im just gonna run dban 3 pass, so after this is ran, the hard drive is pretty much factory default again?

 

sorry if these are stupid questions lol but i never did this before and wanna make sure im doing the right one, im loaded into DNAB right now and i see a few options under method, do i wanna choose the "DoD" Short" method which says security level: medium (3 passes)?

 

1 is plenty for everything else use hammer

 

I've used lots of HDD wipe utilities and DBAN is my favorite, but if you are looking for something relatively fast and simple, the Maxtor HDD wipe utility is pretty good.

Just offers zero-fill, but it can be run from a cd and I use it that way whenever I want to wipe a drive quickly.
I'm told it can also be run from a USB flash drive but I haven't tried that.


Here's a download link:
http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.13-HDD-Wipe-Tool/

 

Im in dban right now on the pc i wanna format, and i have it set for

Method: DoD Short
Verify: Last Pass
Rounds: 1

does that all look right? and running this like this will totally wipe the drive like its brand new?

 

Personally, I prefer a full pass with random characters; three passes, actually.
DBAN's Pseudo-Random Number Generator method (PRNG) with verify is what I would choose.
It takes more time than DOD short, but is more thorough.

 

Linux Live CD and hdparm using the secure erase feature.
http://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

It is equivalent to physical destruction, fixes bad sectors, re-allocated sectors (DBAN doesn't), wipes the HPA if present (DBAN doesn't), will wipe a standard HDD of 300GB in 88 minutes. DBAN 13+ hours.
Drive must be in primary slot, not usb.

 

Yeah I agree with this ^^

Dban is nothing but a Linux liveCD, so you can do the same thing with any Linux LiveCD if you know the commands. I believe DBan just uses the "dd" command for wiping.

I think you should use the secure erase function built into all modern HD's for faster wiping. You can do that with any Linux LiveCD using the "hdparm" command as outlined in the link Searching posted above.

 

at the end of the page posted by Searching there is a link as an alternative method,and is for HDDErase
does it work the same?..in your opinion.

 

Why not just use something like Eraser or R-Wipe?

 

One is plenty. Using a hammer wont help. Spin stand microscopy in addition to other forensic techniques can pull data off even highly damaged platters.

 

Wiping programs vary in their ability to accomplish a complete 100% erasing of data on a HDD.

Using Linux livecd and hdparm and the hot replugging method works well for a BIOS frozen situation.

@acuariano
HDDErase accesses the secure erase function also. HDDErase is the child of the creators of the secure erase standard.

 

It is the first time I hear about the ATA Secure Erase command...

So, basically, the only things it could give you that a normal disk wiping utility doesn't are the destruction of bad sectors as well as the destruction of a HPA (if present, but it can be done with other things, not only the ATA command)


So... If you run a normal software (I normally use the Acronis true image cd that can be used as a boot cd... there is a disk wiping utility on it) to wipe your drive... Only with a single pass write of zeros, you are now with the same result as that secure erase command, with the exception of the HPA and bad sectors...


I get it for the HPA... but the bad sectors?... I mean... They are already bad, so harder to read... They are 512 bytes each... and they are not all from the same area...

So, I mean... random 512 bytes chunks from your disk... you won't be able to find really helpful infos in there... unless you are REALLY unlucky and it happend to be the sector used to store your credit card number or something... But even there...
And you sure won't recover any document, picture or anything else...


But I may be missing something there...

 

It is a hardware based wiping utility making it more secure than a software based utility like DBAN.

Criteria I used to sort wiping programs.
1. Length of time to complete a wipe.
2. Does it overwrite the data.
3. Does it overwrite data everywhere that data can be stored on a HDD.

Then it's not the same.
"I got the same shoes but different"

I think their is malware that can create bad sectors with it's data, which is then restored by Windows Checkdisk feature. This was used to survive rollback softwares like Ayrecovery I believe.

 

A bad sector happends when the drive isn't able to read back or write to a sector... Then the sector will be marked as bad in the g-list and a new one from the spare pool will take it's place.

Once it's done, it's done...
How could chkdsk read them back and execute malware

It would mean that chkdsk reads back bad sectores wich is like... not a good idea! And more than this, it also means that windows will execute the code found in bad sectors?!

And how could the virus create bad sectors?...

 

I tried LLF once in my Seagate 30 GB Disk, i tried KillDisc, MHDD, HDD Wipe tool, and i was not pleased by them. I noticed HDD responded little slowly, after LLF.
My Hard Disc never responded the wasy it used to. Thankfully for Seagate HDD theirwas a Seatool Utility for LLF.
Although DBAN, Maxtor utility are good too. Most of all always have a Hiren Boot CD. It has a list of Utility for Writing O's, performes format, etc ec etc .
So far i h' saved two HardDisc with Hiren Boot CD.

 

Here is some info for bad sector generators by malware.

Protection Schemes Based on Virus Survival Techniques

 

Searching one question:..have you ever tried other programs like wipedrive,killdisk,acronis drive cleanser,bc total wipeout...and what you think of them