Free HDD wipe? DBAN?

Wepohn · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:02

Hey guys wanting to wipe my hard drive but I'm not sure what program to use. I've never used DBAN but is there a better alternative?

Thanks.

OCdude · 21 Nov 2011 at 21:18

If you want it done securely, stick with DBAN

jbloggs · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:01

Eraser is decent...

Lunesta · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:24

FDisk on Hiren's BootCD has always been a winner for me.

Ash-Lee · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:26

Another vote for DBAN here.

However, am i correct in thinking a full format within Windows 7 will securely erase any data?

HarryPainful · 21 Nov 2011 at 22:33

You cannot totally wipe a disk, someone with the time and means will always get something off it.

But using DBAN on the highest pass will just about get as good as it gets.

LeJosh · 21 Nov 2011 at 23:06

HarryPainful said:
You cannot totally wipe a disk, someone with the time and means will always get something off it.

But using DBAN on the highest pass will just about get as good as it gets.

Fire. Lots of it.

But yes DBAN is great.

Atrox · 22 Nov 2011 at 01:39

Note that DBAN may produce errors when booting, such as "No Configuration File Found" and you'll have to download an older version. Both Dban 2.0.0 (2008) and 2.2.6 (2010) gave me that error and I had to use the image 1.0.7 (2006) for it to boot and run successfully.

Sean86 · 22 Nov 2011 at 03:13

DBAn is great i also use active killdisk http://www.killdisk.com/

IRLeetly · 22 Nov 2011 at 09:34

Dban vote here, Always use it to wipe drives if they need sending back or when I sell them etc

Wepohn · 22 Nov 2011 at 14:24

Hey guys, I'm having a problem trying to work DBAN. I've burned the .iso onto a dvd using Alcohol 120

I've changed the boot device priority in the bios but when the system seems to try and boot from the disc it stops at a screen showing

ISOLINUX 4.00 4.00-pre46 ETCD Copyright (c) 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin et al

I'm not sure what I'm not doing, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Atrox · 22 Nov 2011 at 14:39

Wepohn said:
Hey guys, I'm having a problem trying to work DBAN. I've burned the .iso onto a dvd using Alcohol 120

I've changed the boot device priority in the bios but when the system seems to try and boot from the disc it stops at a screen showing

ISOLINUX 4.00 4.00-pre46 ETCD Copyright (c) 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin et al

I'm not sure what I'm not doing, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

This will be another error that seems prevelant as well as the one I mentioned a couple of posts up.

Try downloading an older image.

Wepohn · 22 Nov 2011 at 14:44

Atrox said:
This will be another error that seems prevelant as well as the one I mentioned a couple of posts up.

Try downloading an older image.

Yup! got it working, thanks for the help.

philip2009 · 22 Nov 2011 at 15:21

HarryPainful said:
You cannot totally wipe a disk, someone with the time and means will always get something off it.

Someone always posts this when discussing hard disk erasure but I've never heard any convincing evidence for it. Please give real world examples where any significant data has been recovered after a wipe by something like DBAN.

iviv · 22 Nov 2011 at 23:10

philip2009 said:
Someone always posts this when discussing hard disk erasure but I've never heard any convincing evidence for it. Please give real world examples where any significant data has been recovered after a wipe by something like DBAN.

I would assume its something that the FBI and so on deal with fairly regularly, but they wouldn't go bragging about it either.

oldbag · 22 Nov 2011 at 23:17

Good for removing the porn before putting on the auction site ........ So I'm told!

HarryPainful · 22 Nov 2011 at 23:57

iviv said:
I would assume its something that the FBI and so on deal with fairly regularly, but they wouldn't go bragging about it either.

philip2009 said:
Someone always posts this when discussing hard disk erasure but I've never heard any convincing evidence for it. Please give real world examples where any significant data has been recovered after a wipe by something like DBAN.

The Police.

I have seen it done, don't know why it was happening, I was not given those details.

A laptop came in and we had to get whatever we could from it, I'm guessing it was something very naughty to get digital forensics involved.

So just because you have not seen it, does not mean it cannot happen, it take hours, sometimes days, but you will be surprised what is left.

It make sure nothing can come off it, you need to destroy the platters.

Thrash · 23 Nov 2011 at 07:31

If a decent forensic wiping tool was used properly over an entire modern drive, nothing is retrievable.

CaptainCrash · 23 Nov 2011 at 09:25

HarryPainful said:
The Police.

I have seen it done, don't know why it was happening, I was not given those details.

The data was obviously NOT completely overwritten. Any reputable data recovery company you speak to will tell you it's simply not possible, even after a one-pass overwrite.

Sorry, but if you want to be taken seriously you'll have to come up with something better than "I have seen it done, don't know why it was happening, I was not given those details."

Dano · 23 Nov 2011 at 09:50

I once tried Piriform's disk wipe that is available in ccleaner, then ran recuva on the drive, it got everything back lol

DBAN on the other hand, recuva didn't find much at all.