Secure data wipe

stoofa · 19 Jun 2016 at 17:47

I've got a stack of old HD's that I'd like to re-purpose. Can anybody recommend some tools to securely wipe these drives so that data retrieval would be "pretty nigh on impossible"?
I don't mind paying for the right tools - although would like to keep the budget as low as possible.

Thanks.

sebna · 19 Jun 2016 at 21:54

http://www.killdisk.com/?gclid=Cj0K...CMn_4EHtmRNa9UiWlrZ3b3IGlAU3E1SDYEaAsHv8P8HAQ

See if you can get away with free version. If not, paid is really good

However be very careful as once wiped there is no going back

If you want to be absolutely sure you data is gone go for one of the 7 passes method.

Cheers

Zefan · 19 Jun 2016 at 21:58

I always reach for hiren's boot cd in these situations. It has a shed load of decent erase tools, so if you want to be sure you can use one for erase and fill with random, then erase with another and then repeat

:edit: I believe killdisk is one of the applications on it in fact!

KIA · 20 Jun 2016 at 16:26

killdisk or dban. one pass of zeroes is enough.

sebna · 20 Jun 2016 at 20:55

KIA said:
killdisk or dban. one pass of zeroes is enough.

One pass of zeros is like a full format in windows (in oppose to quick format). You do not need KillDisk for it.

Depending what you are trying to achieve but if your goal is to get rid of data without any option to bring it back to life 3 passes is absolute minimum and 7 is more like what you want

Cheers

Sasahara · 20 Jun 2016 at 21:55

Ccleaner also has a drive wipe option.

bledd · 21 Jun 2016 at 12:06

dban 'quick' mode, if you're booting it from USB, remember to take out the USB stick before you type 'quick'

KIA · 21 Jun 2016 at 15:39

sebna said:
One pass of zeros is like a full format in windows (in oppose to quick format). You do not need KillDisk for it.

Bootable media. Full format will be fine if the OP is going to connect the drive to a working Windows system.

sebna said:
Depending what you are trying to achieve but if your goal is to get rid of data without any option to bring it back to life 3 passes is absolute minimum and 7 is more like what you want

Extraordinary claim without a source.

Armageus · 21 Jun 2016 at 15:51

sebna said:
One pass of zeros is like a full format in windows (in oppose to quick format). You do not need KillDisk for it.

Depending what you are trying to achieve but if your goal is to get rid of data without any option to bring it back to life 3 passes is absolute minimum and 7 is more like what you want

I know what you are saying - but even one pass of zeros is generally going to be secure enough for most people's home hard drives.

Whilst zeroed drives can be recovered e.g. by looking at the magnetic field strength to identify which bits have been recently overwritten etc, and so uncover the underlying data, generally it's only going to be worth going to the trouble if you know that there might be something worth recovering.

ToTheMax · 22 Jun 2016 at 10:24

I find old drives (6+ years old) not worth keeping as the capacities versus running them are just not worth it. Going to town on em with a hammer is the method I prefer for security purposes :-)

APM · 24 Jun 2016 at 11:29

DBAN and/or Parted Magic secure erase.