How to wipe a previously used HD
- Thread starter cu3ed
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if it had stored bank details etc on then no youd want more, but if it only had media theres no real issue, is there?
Have a look at CCleaner
Have a look at CCleaner
http://eraser.heidi.ie/ will do what you want, wiping a disk thoroughly takes quite a while though.
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A full format in Windows 7 will zero-fill the drive, and then that data is *gone*. Irretrievably, irrevocably, absolutely.
You can use one of the utilities which overwrite multiple times with random data if you're truly paranoid, but it's not necessary and really just a waste of time.
Ahh right...well ive jsut left it on a older XP machine to do a full format, so will leave it at that...thanks!
Not sure if this helps but get a large file on your pc (picture/video) of around 1Gb (more if possible) then copy and paste it in one folder untill the hdard drive is full up then format. do this 4-5 times and most of any old data will be gone/unreadable. Its a lot cheaper than the prograsm you get online that are supposed to fully wipe hard drives -_- .
he being a n00bIndeed, I think the newer BETA releases detect external USB drives now.
IN Google I trsut...jst serached looking into it now.
Umm unsure on what to dowload TBH on teh site.
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ah, that's different (sorry) - unlike Win7 and Vista, XP's full format *doesn't* zero-fill the drive, so you need to look at a third-party utility. There's plenty of apps which do this, such as Eraser as mentioned above, or the free version of Active Killdisk.
My previous advice still stands though, a single-pass overwrite will put your data beyond any possible hope of recovery, so don't bother with all the time-consuming "extra-super-secure" options.
Yes sorry, my new machine is busy with me trying to get stuff back onto it so was leaving the much older Xp machine to get on with this.
I take it a Single Pass overite is one of teh options in those programmes.
Never had to do this before...feel like a right numpty., free version of killdisk should do it.
I take it a Single Pass overite is one of teh options in those programmes.
Never had to do this before...feel like a right numpty., free version of killdisk should do it.
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IIRC the free version of Killdisk only give you the option of a single-pass overwrite, but since it's all you need anyway it should do you fine.
DBAN as the others have suggested is very good, but it's slightly less convenient as it runs off a boot disc, so your PC will effectively be out of action during the process. If it's not being run on your main rig, it doesn't matter so much I guess.
