Wiping HDD

Hello All

I've been asked to wipe a notebook HDD prior to the machine's sale - I know there are 26,000 threads about this but wondered what the view was regarding:

diskpart.exe (from within WinPE) > clean all.

I've done this numerous times on my own machines and I understand from reading that this should be sufficiently secure, but just wanted to check as it's not my machine!

Thanks in advance

philby

 

I think Erase Disk option from Parted Magic is enough, it uses dd to write zeroes on the disk. I use parted magic with the Internal Secure Erase command to wipe my SSD's and its blazing fast, but with a regular HDD that would be a different story.
Here is a link on how to use Parted Magic Click

 

I think it is sufficient

 

Don't listen to these noobs.

Use "DBANS Boot n Nuke"

 

Thanks all - I realise that there are many utilities that will do the job, but was wondering whether the clean all command was considered adequate by members - I like to keep things as simple as possible...

Anyway, I ran 2 passes of clean all - is there a simple way to verify that nothing is retrievable, (by your average PC shop Joe that is - not by Mossad)?

Thanks

philby

 

You can try Recuva to see if any files are recoverable, there are many similar data recovery programs out there, but this is the one i remember the most.

 

Ah yes, I know of Recuva - but wouldn't I need a way to boot and run ..?

(I might be being thick here - I'm playing chess with my son and not really concentrating).

 

If you have another computer... simply connect the HDD and do your magic

 

Sure - told you I wasn't concentrating

Thanks!

 

Use "DBAN"

- Download Derriks Boot n Nuke
- Burn to CD
- Insert and boot of the CD

- DBAN will appear
- Choose the method option
- Change the wipe to the RCMP method
- Wipe it (Takes around 8 hours)

Nothing will ever recover your stuff, don't worry about anything else


I just used this last night to wipe my old Laptop, worked perfect.

NOTE: Be careful with the Automatic option. (If you have USB hub or devices) un-plug all except your keyboard.

 

Yeah they are all Noobs, it's only you that isn't

I must admit i've heard lots of good things about DBAN over the years, never used it myself though.

 

Yes, DBAN is a great wiping tool if you want to securely wipe any old HD's or reformat

 

Diskpart.exe command 'clean' from a WINPE disc, wipes/zero's the partiton table, where 'clean all' zero's all data afaik.
What does BDAN do better besides offering other wiping methods like DoD, PRNG stream etc?
Or what does zero-ing with 'clean all' lack in your opinion? Doesn't it wipe unused disk space/slack space/unused MFT records etc?
Why would using 'clean all' be a 'noob' solution?

 

Why would using 'clean all' be a 'noob' solution?

Yes - that's what I was getting at really in my OP, why would clean all be considered insufficient?

philby

 

I agree with DBAN. I just used it on a computer I'm getting rid of.

 

I am aware of the many utilities - including DBAN - that can be used...

The question relates specifically to the effectiveness of the clean all command.

Baserk has echoed my question:

What does zero-ing with 'clean all' lack in your opinion?

That's really what I'm trying to get answered here - I'm not after a list of s/w recommendations...

Thanks

philby

 

Depending on who you listen to a zero-write is all that is needed to fully erase a hard drive. There are some that say even after doing that it is possible to recover data off a hard drive. There is a lot of conflicting opinions on it and I'm not sure you will get an consensus on it. I have even heard some claim that data recovery is possible after Heidi Eraser or DBAN has done a 3 round wipe. I even remember hearing one "expert" one time say you may could still retreive data on a drive that had had the Gutmann wipe done to it.

 

Fair enough - perhaps there's no technically definitive answer re. clean all after all.

Cheers

philby