Formatting before selling

NightShadow

NightShadow

NightShadow

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What software do people use for formatting a hard drive before you sell a PC/Laptop on? Usually I don't worry but this one has had a lot of stuff on it and I would rather it was at least a bit more securely erased than the quick format which Windows Vista/7 does.
 
NightShadow said:
What software do people use for formatting a hard drive before you sell a PC/Laptop on? Usually I don't worry but this one has had a lot of stuff on it and I would rather it was at least a bit more securely erased than the quick format which Windows Vista/7 does.
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A full format in Vista/7 performs a zero fill, which will put your data beyond any conceivable hope of recovery.

If you're truly paranoid, check out DBAN. :)
 
The manufacturer website will usually have a disk utility that you can run from boot and do a low level format... there are also downloads that will allow you to run several iterations of a format that first writes all ones (1), then all zeros (0), then a specified code... only sure way to remove all data is to destroy the hard drive.
 
Will check out the suggestions, thanks guys.

Have to say I am not overly paranoid, it's just when installing Windows Vista (as this laptop came with) the format takes all of a few seconds and there is no option to choose a full format like in the days of XP. I know if somebody wants to get to my data there are ways, just looking at making it harder for the average person.
 
CaptainCrash said:
That's nonsense, assuming you have at least half a clue what you're doing, and a stupid waste of hardware.
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This basically.

While in theory destroying the platters is the only true way to make the data unrecoverable it is also completely overkill for the average herbert. No government agency or super high-tech criminal organization is going to waste a cleanroom and millions of pounds of equipment to forensically scan your HDD for data.

A few iterations of DBAN will pretty much prevent anyone from using recovery software.
 
SiriusB said:
No government agency or super high-tech criminal organization is going to waste a cleanroom and millions of pounds of equipment to forensically scan your HDD for data.
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They couldn't do it even then, unless they have some secret supertechnology for the purpose (which is always a possibility I suppose, just as they might have time travel and stargates). :)

Once the data has been overwritten just once, it's gone - Peter Gutmann explained how some data might be recovered in theory using magnetic force microscopy, but he later went on to admit that the chances of getting anything useful in practice were vanishingly small. The situation has only got worse (from a recovery POV) as HDD densities have got higher, and the tracks are packed closer together.

I think the main reason governments/military establishments and big corporations insist on the physical destruction of disks is that it's more foolproof, and a lot cheaper than paying someone to overwrite them (and presumably someone else to check that it's been done properly).
 
CaptainCrash said:
That's nonsense, assuming you have at least half a clue what you're doing, and a stupid waste of hardware.
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Way to quote out of context...

As I stated, use a manufacturer supplied utility, or any of the freely downloadable software, that will overwrite using ones (1) and zeros (0), this is fine in the OP's case.

What I stated afterwards is common fact, the only true way to guarantee that data can never be recovered from a hard drive is to destroy the disk.

Now you can get off your high horse.
 
jimbobaggies said:
Way to quote out of context...

As I stated, use a manufacturer supplied utility, or any of the freely downloadable software, that will overwrite using ones (1) and zeros (0), this is fine in the OP's case.

What I stated afterwards is common fact, the only true way to guarantee that data can never be recovered from a hard drive is to destroy the disk.

Now you can get off your high horse.
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There is no "context", you stated something that was incorrect, and now you've repeated it. It's still nonsense.
 
jimbobaggies said:
I forgot, you're the foremost expert in the field of data recovery :)
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shrug... I certainly wouldn't claim that, it's just something that interests me, partly for its own sake and partly on a professional level.

Anyway, if you can find me one documented example of where useful data has ever been recovered from a HDD after a fully completed one-pass zero fill, let alone a multiple-pass overwrite, and I'll concede the point (clue: you won't). :p
 
CaptainCrash said:
:confused:
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I never said there was one documented case.... again, try quoting in context. Just because something isn't "documented", doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

As has been said, in the OP's case this is not even relevant, I only stated it as a passing comment, as you will know yourself being such an eminent figure in the field of data storage, there are circumstances where millions / billions of investment would be used to try and recover industrially / military sensitive data, and as I stated, the only true way to guarantee that data can never be recovered from a hard drive is to destroy the disk.

I can tell you that is a fact. Because of the nature of sensitive data stored on disks where I work, when PC's are retired, no matter how new or old the disks, they aren't reused, the platters are destroyed.
 
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