Wiping/cleaning a hard drive

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I've got to hand back my laptop in a few days and I need to erase some sensitive data. Re-formatting is not an option, I just need to get rid of this data by overwriting etc. Are there any free recommended tools out there?
 
There is no true way of completely erasing data off a hard drive short of a cremation. After using scrub progs or re-formatting several times the data can still be recovered.

Partial deletion of data is not possible.Deleting the files doesn't remove them. They are still there, just the index to them is removed and the space they occupied is reset to free space. I dont know of any s/w that will trash just bits of a disk.

That said some of the "free" (30 day trial) solns will do a more than adequate job if you are just looking to stop your old company from snooping.

If you are really concerned. Take the drive out and give it a good hard whacking.. sufficient that it never spins up again. Most people will just throw it away and start again.
 
What about inserting a new hard drive and transferring all the stuff you want them to have back and not the stuf you don't? Not the cheapest or quickest option but probably the most secure. Or you could take Pauls option and smash it.
 
I've just remembered the tool I've used before (Eraser) and it does the job.

Much as I'd love to destroy it, I can't. Thanks for your help.
 
zero write fill it
 
I used this > Darik's Boot & Nuke ... :naughty: ... when I returned mine at the end of October Colin ... :thumbs: ... simple to use and very effective it was too ... :razz: ... to ex-employers ... :D

DBAN was recommended by folks on this forum when I asked the same question ... :thumbs: ... thanks for that guys ... :thankyou:








:p
 
Use Dariks myself, works to US DoD standards and runs from a boot disk/cd, you can also install it and use the windows application for file shredding.
 
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