Computers & Electronics

How do I securely erase my data on my hard drive?

  • Last Updated:
  • Jan 18th, 2010 3:24 pm
Tags:
None
Banned
User avatar
Jan 4, 2010
1584 posts
53 upvotes
Toronto

How do I securely erase my data on my hard drive?

I am planning to sell my laptop soon and I would like to know what program(s) I should run in order to erase the drive so there would be no opportunity to recover the data?

enon
11 replies
Member
Dec 2, 2006
468 posts
4 upvotes
I know a person who, prior to selling a desktop, tried formatting it with some software but the format(probably a software thing) froze for some reason....I can't remember the specifics of the formatting problem.

He removed the 3.5" IDE drive, smashed it to pieces with a hammer and sold the system without a HDD.

It cost him $65.00 on his asking price.

It gave him peace of mind.

Code: Select all

~ Keyboard not found!
~ Press ENTER to continue ...
Banned
User avatar
Jan 4, 2010
1584 posts
53 upvotes
Toronto
does this program require me to have windows installed to run? is there anything that can run from a USB flash drive?
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 31, 2007
2053 posts
183 upvotes
York Region
enon wrote: I am planning to sell my laptop soon and I would like to know what program(s) I should run in order to erase the drive so there would be no opportunity to recover the data?

enon
Use can use a small free program call Eraser. Just Google for it. That is what I use on mine.
Deal Fanatic
Apr 15, 2004
5438 posts
80 upvotes
Sydney
jackrabbit000 wrote: Low level format will write zeros to the whole drive.
The data can still be recovered for a price.
Deal Expert
User avatar
Aug 18, 2005
21223 posts
5939 upvotes
Burlington-Hamilton
enon wrote: does this program require me to have windows installed to run? is there anything that can run from a USB flash drive?
DBAN is a bootable program and does not require any OS.
- casual gastronomist -
Banned
Jun 19, 2006
9349 posts
57 upvotes
At your command prompt, as root:

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sda bs=100M

Substitute /dev/sda with whatever your hard drive is.

(I personally wouldn't trust a so-called "low level format", unless you're certain that its actually writing zeros. The concept of "low level format" goes back to the MFM/RLL hard drive days, when a low-level format was required to lay down servo tracks. Modern drives have embedded servos and are not self-low-level-programmable -- so what exactly a so-called "low-level format" does is entirely random and specific to the manufacturer of the drive!).
"I worked with several H1B employees that were/are borderline ********. One of them wanted to spray an electrical patch panel with solvent to see if it would make the “network go faster”". <--- lol (source)
Deal Addict
User avatar
Oct 15, 2004
3953 posts
18 upvotes
10 Delete the files
20 Write some random stuff back (like video's) until the disk is full.
30 GOTO 20 until you feel good
Deal Addict
User avatar
Jul 5, 2005
4181 posts
1 upvote
Used this for a RMA. It worked pretty well and often 1 pass at the DoD short level is enough (3 if you're paranoid and 7 if you're a conspiracy theorist). Takes a very long time though.
Banned
User avatar
Jan 4, 2010
1584 posts
53 upvotes
Toronto
Dban burned on a CD worked great, thanks!
enon

Top