so I just nuked my hard drive

[Occulus]

Took a digital shotgun to ALL the data (after burning an archive CD, of course) and reinstalled my OS.

Does anyone know of software that *securly* deletes data on a hard drive?

[ret5hd]

1. under linux there is "wipe"...

supposedly able to do military grade deletes, overwriting data as many times as you set it for with random data. takes a long time tho, to do a HD.

[newyawker99]

7. Congrats ret5hd!! 400 posts

:toast:

[WillyT]

2. Here's One I Just Found... Has A Free Version...

I used to know a few of these, but it's been awhile since I've needed one. :shrug:

Link: http://www.killdisk.com/features.htm

You might want to go to PC World or ZDNet and read a few reviews before performing your wipeout!!!

Good luck!

:hi:

[frylock]

3. try a low-level format..

it writes all zeroes to the hard disk. Go to the manufacturers website, and they should have a utility for you.

[yella_dawg]

4. Define "securely"

DOD has a commercial off-the-shelf thing that supposedly works pretty well, but even then, the right tools can recover much of the data. That tool writes "0" to every byte on a disc, then "255", then zero again. Norton Utilities used to have a tool that wrote "0" to every free byte of the drive. That isn't very "secure", but it would take a serious electronics lab to read the wiped data. The best security is a three pound shop hammer.

[WillyT]

5. LOL... I Remember Reading A DOD Protocol That...

Said in order to be completely secure, you had to do a 'zero' (low level format) overwrite a couple of times, then take the HD to a commercial pulverizer, and then after that, melt down what was left.

That should just about do it, LOL!!!

:hi:

[frylock]

6. what.. they didn't drill holes in the HDD under salt water too.

[trof]

8. Sure. Here:

[MercutioATC]

9. I believe "Window Washer" has an overwrite function that's user-

defined. In other words you can tell it to overwrite and delete 100 times if you wish. They explain it in the software (I think NSA protocol is 6x overwrite and delete).