HHDERASE vs WIPE DRIVE PRO

I went out on a limb and brought Wipe Drive Pro It's payware and not enemic in price, but..........

HDDERASE is open source (free) HDDERASE and claims to tap into a Hard Drives's own built-in secure erase algorithym to securely sanatize any hard drive from it's former data/partition.

It runs from a floppy of all things whereas Wipe Drive Pro uses CD.

I am totally on the fence over these 2.

I just erased with WDP and used every conceivable recovery app in inventory plus others found on the internet. I run a simple 3 pass with verification. It was fast! and for all intensive purposes lived up to it's claim. Afterwards my new XP reinstall flew like a rocket and was over in minutes!

With HDDERASE the same held true even though it runs from a plastic floppy, and it was equally fast although i didn't set a timewatch on either of them.

This was purely experimental on my part.

I used TESTDISK to try to surface any indications some data might be still been reachable but nothing doing. Both done a clean wipe with no chance for software recovery as we know it.

My question then stands like this, which of these are better, or are they both much too similiar in their performances for any real comparisions to be of any useful discussion.

One runs from a floppy and is free while the other runs from CD but makes high claims that they even service the USA Governement agencies as one of their high-profile clients.

As always, i don't use them to safely destroy some important secrets but concentrate my efforts on which one's wipe well enough to clear away even the most minute degree of previous files to improve performance, which is my highest expectation.

 

You could have used DBAN, which is freeware, instead.

 

I already do. I have DBan on CD, i just like to read more feedback of other members personal results from these wipe methods/programs and which they support and why.

Thanks

 

Can you use either of these and do a system restore, with tapping F10? Or does it wipe the factory settings off as well?

 

Wipe Drive Pro is claimed to include as one of many of their clients, the US Government, thats what sparked my curiosity in the beginning.


Theres absolutely nothing of value i need shredded but am instead after the very best wipe for maximum performance and that so no other undelete or restore partition app might hesitate on some leftover code and slow things down. I'm a Power User who goes for the absolute most clean disk to ready a rapid reinstall without even the slightest hint of any hesitation during that process.

Both of those programs at this topic heading seem to wipe as clean as any other i ever tried before. I used to use D-Ban but the most efficient wiper i look for is the one where absolutely no software can resurface previous writings on the disk.

HDDERASE, although a floppy, also seems to completely sanitize from what i seen so far.

I'm curious just which one of those 2 perform the best and especially how and why.

EASTER

 

I was reading an article some time ago which said that block by block overwrite software like DBAN would prevent data recovery software from recovering data, but the Secure Erase command was also able to prevent specialised hardware from recovering data.

 

Then i call it a tie. Both more or less accomplish the same end with the only difference measured by the time it takes. In Wipe Drive Pro theres some options after the wipe to verify whereas HDDerase pretty much sanatizes equally well and thats that.

It accellerates my new XP installs by many minutes compared to before.

 

I've always used HHDerase - Secure Erase, because of the use of the manufacturer's internal secure erase command, which apparently offers more security than overwrite programs.

 

Yep, Secure Erase is better than DBAN and Wipe Drive etc. Its quicker and more effective.

 

You are both right and i have verified the results with ENCASE, the Law Enforcement standard probe as well as POC apps.

So although Wipe Drive Pro seems to be best compared to D-Ban, IMO, i stick with SECURE ERASE by floppy which taps into built-in erase methods of the HD itself.

I found nothing can surface after a thorough run of HDDERASE = SECURE ERASE.

Plus makes a XP reinstall rapid in a matter of micro-minutes then before.

 

Newer machines don't have floppy drives these days so the program that uses a floppy disk isn't useful for those users.

 

Hmm....."verified with Encase."

Sorry, I'm not buying into this.

What exactly did you "verify"? You say that, "nothing can surface," after using HDDERASE-SECURE ERASE. You imply that something can surface using Darik's Boot & Nuke (DBAN). If used properly, I don't believe that. What is there with these other programs that actually makes your wiped drives more secure than if you used DBAN? I mean specifically....what is it?

Same question for users of Wipe Drive Pro. White Canyon can always be counted on to hype programs and sell utilities in the $50 range when there's perfectly capable software that does the same for free.

 

Im no expert but from what ive read, it seems that DBAN overwrites each block of the disc and will prevent data recovery software from recovering data. The SecureErase command uses a different and apparently more secure method which also prevents some hardware based recovery. It also is much much quicker than DBAN.

Ill post a link to an articlle that explains this in depth if i can find it.

 

If you can find something, I'd love to see it. DBAN can easily block hardware recoveries. It overwrites the drive with a choice of several wiping algorithms (DOD, RCMP, PRNG Stream, etc.) and allows for an unlimited number of random wipes. I'm interested to know exactly what else software can do that isn't simply marketing hype.

 

You can use a recordable CD-R or bootable USB, just remember to set the boot priority in the system BIOS.


Gerard have a look at the Secure Erase pdfs from the Center for Magnetic Recording Research to see what it can actually do.

CMRR

 

I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

Exactly.

I'm not engaged in this thread for bragging rights or one program is better then another, i'm just relaying my own local results.

Wipe Drive Pro wiped the dickens of the platters i let it ride on and so far i didn't find anything. I don't at all discount D-Ban could possibly do the same, and for free, but HddErase grabbed my attention since it was just a floppy but tapped into the Hard Drive's electronics somehow, and it's a freebie as well.

But like my topic title suggests, i pit them both together and also read the same articles as some of you on SECURE ERASE command to ata/ide hard drives and looks like that beats software erasing, maybe not by much, but was thorough enough to convince me, especially when the proceeding new O/S install flew thru it's paces faster then anything i seen before.

White-Canyon might practice some exaggeration, i dunno, i don't keep up with rhetoric, i try a product and if it meets with my expectations enough, i take my chances just like many of you even if means a wasted investment.
But to me it looks complete enough, for pity's sakes, i'm after performance after all more than a paper shredder as i don't receive national security secret memos that need that type of security.

Now as a malware researcher though, i do require a very thorough sanitization because who knows what or how many empty slots microsoft overlooks that some clever code writer could manipulate for maximum destruction, as in returning to haunt after a so-called fresh install.